Nothing is Irreversible
by E. Limberg
Summary: The story of Jack and Kate's relationship off the island, and the adventures they have with Aaron.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"What's wrong, Jack?" Kate asks, gently rocking Aaron in her arms.

"Nothing's wrong, Kate," he gives her a tight smile and rubs a hand over her back before stepping away to say goodbye to more guests. It had been six months since their rescue, and he had finally laid his father to rest.

Twenty minutes later the last guest has left the Shephard household. Margot gives the younger woman a hug, "It was lovely to see you again, Kate. It's been a long day, and I think I'm going to head upstairs to bed."

"I'm sorry about your husband," Kate tells her as she returns the hug.

"It's been almost a year since I last saw him, and it's still hard to think that he's really gone. But at least I didn't lose my son too," she smiles, kissing said son before heading for the stairs.

"Good night, Mom," Jack calls after her.

"You okay?" Kate asks, putting the sleeping baby down on the couch and placing the pillows around him.

"Yeah," he says, staying several feet away from her.

"Jack… talk to me," she steps closer to him, reaching out to touch his cheek.

He steps away from her and tries not to feel guilty about the hurt look on her face. Crossing the room, he takes a seat in his father's study, his back to her and the baby.

After checking to make sure Aaron is still asleep and safe on couch, she follows him into the other room. She takes a seat in the chair opposite him and waits for him to speak.

"I don't think I can do this, Kate," he says, not looking at her.

"Do what?"

Several moments pass in silence before he speak again. "You know the woman who approached me at the church? My dad had an affair with her."

"Oh… I'm sorry, Jack."

"I have a sister."

She doesn't know what to say to this, unable to read his expression to determine how he feels about this news.

"I know I told you I'd help you, but I don't think I can."

"Help me with what?" she frowns, not following the conversation.

"Raise him. You're going to trial eventually and what if you get put in prison for the rest of your life? Then it'll be all me."

"Jack… I'm going to need you to help me here," Kate says, leaving her seat and coming to kneel in front of him.

"I can't help you, Kate."

"I understand your concern about my trial and raising Aaron. It's a big responsibility, and you've already got a life that doesn't involve raising a child."

"I don't want to lose you," Jack finally meets her eyes.

"Hey, you don't have to commit to taking care of Aaron if I go to prison," she takes his hand. "We can still do… whatever it is that we are doing. But Aaron is my son now, Jack. And you're good with him. If there's going to be anything between us… well, I'm kind of expecting you to step up and be a father to him. I know it'll take time to get used to, and I'm not expecting you to raise him or even stay with me if I go to prison."

"I can't be his father. I know that means that we're done, but I just can't do it."

She removes her hand from him and rubs her hands down her face in confusion, "I don't get it. You were telling me about this sister that you just learned about, and now…"

"She should be the one raising him. Not me and not you, Kate. But we just left her behind."

"Claire? Jack, she left him in the middle of the jungle and took off. I wish that we had found her, that she could be here to raise him. But she's not. And I know that she wanted to give him up for adoption originally, but I just… I couldn't let him be taken by strangers."

"Isn't that what you are?" Jack stands and heads to the window to look out at the setting sun.

Kate gives him a minute to cool off, trying not to let his words affect her. She still doesn't understand the conversation they are having, but it seems that they are breaking up. He doesn't acknowledge her when she comes to stand beside him. "Jack… what does me raising Aaron have to do with you having a sister?"

He sighs, turning to face her, "Claire was my sister."

It takes her several moments to comprehend this, and the first emotion she feels at this is anger. "So you're saying you don't want anything to do with that little boy in the next room because you now know that he's related to you?"

"We left her behind. She was my sister, Kate."

"Don't you think that she would want family to raise him if she couldn't do so herself?"

"We shouldn't have left her in the first place."

"Don't you dare try to make me feel guilty about leaving her. You're the one who wouldn't let me get Jin after I had promised Sun that we wouldn't leave him. And I'm just trying to do what I think is best for Aaron since your sister abandoned him."

"Right, his fake mom going to prison is really the best thing for him," Jack laughs harshly.

"You don't get to talk to me like that when you want nothing to do with him, Jack. Whatever our relationship was… it's over," she storms out of the room and picks Aaron up, leaving the man she thought she had loved behind.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Kate," he says when he hears her voice answering the phone.

"Jack?"

"Yeah, it's me. Please don't hang up. I, uh, want to see you."

She sighs softly into the phone, "Jack…"

"I want to see both of you, Kate," he gives that a moment to sink in. "I know what I said before about it being too hard to be around him. It was just a shock finding out that Claire was my sister, and he looks so much like her. But I want you in my life, Kate, and as the only blood relative that can be a part of his life, I… I want Aaron in my life too."

"You can't be just saying these things, Jack."

"I don't know how to be a father, and you know that I didn't have the best example. But I am willing to try."

Kate sighs again, taking a moment to contemplate his words. "Okay. But I can't keep giving you chances, Jack. Aaron has to be my priority now so if things don't work out…"

"I understand that this is my last chance." After a few seconds of silence, he asks, "So can I take you to dinner tomorrow? Both of you? Or just you… whatever you want really."

"You do know that until court a couple months ago, we hadn't seen each other in nearly a year, right?"

"I still miss seeing you everyday."

A few moments pass before she asks, "What if I cook dinner for you instead?"

"As long as there is not fish or fruit involved. I'm still tired of the food on the island."

"Fish I can promise but I don't know about the fruit," she smiles.

"I am not letting you turn my nephew into a vegetarian too, Kate."

"The nanny gave him chicken fingers while I was in prison, and half the time that's the only thing I can get him to eat now."

He laughs, "Don't sound so disappointed about it."

"So when do you get off work?"

"I have the day off tomorrow."

"Do you want to come over around five then?"

"Sounds great. Can I bring anything?"

"No, I think we're good."

"Alright. I will see you tomorrow, Kate."

"Jack…" she hesitates as their conversation comes to an end. "I've missed seeing you too."

 **~Lost~**

It is just after four o'clock when he knocks on her door the next day. "You're early," she says as she opens the door for him.

"Sorry. I got called into work for a surgery this morning and just decided to come straight here from the hospital."

"Aaron's taking a nap now. But we can start dinner if you're hungry," she closes the door as he steps inside her house.

"We? I thought you wanted to cook me dinner," he teases, taking in her home. His eyes ultimately end up landing on her, glad to find that she has traded in her fancy court clothes for jeans and a t-shirt, her familiar dark curls cascading down her back.

She shrugs, "Then I guess you'll be eating a veggie burger too."

"I'll eat chicken fingers with Aaron," he smiles. "Seriously, Kate, you don't have to make something special for me."

"Well I've already bought the burgers so now you have to eat them," she pokes him in the side before leading him to the kitchen.

"You don't have to cater to me."

"You're the one who said Aaron couldn't be a vegetarian."

He holds up a grocery bag and motions to the freezer, "I, uh… brought dessert."

"So you're going to be the one to corrupt him with sweets too?" she shakes her head as he places the bag in the freezer.

"I seem to recall someone else having a sweet tooth on the island."

Kate ignores him as she moves around him to get the sweet potato fries and burgers out. "Can you cook these for me?" she hands the burgers to him and gestures to the electric grill on the counter.

"How many do you want of each?"

"Aaron won't eat veggie burgers, but maybe he'll try at least part of a regular one? So just one veggie burger and two regular ones or whatever you want."

"Where are your seasonings?"

"I probably don't have what your looking for, but my seasonings are up there," she points to a cupboard.

"I'll make it work. It'll be the best burger Aaron's ever had."

"If he never wants to eat them again, I will know who to blame," she places the fries in the oven. Then she leans against the counter and crosses her arms as she watches him cook.

A few minutes later, a small voice calls from the other room, "Mommy?"

Jack turns, suddenly finding himself nervous, but she is already walking away from him.

"Hey, honey, did you have a nice nap?" she asks as she picks up the blonde boy.

"I hungry, Mommy," Aaron says.

"Dinner will be ready soon. But first there is someone I want you to meet."

"Hi, Aaron," Jack smiles when she steps into the kitchen with her son.

"This is Jack."

"Hi, Jack," Aaron smiles. "Play cars with me?"

"Sure, I can play cars with you," he smiles as the boy takes his hand after Kate sets him on the ground.

"I can finish cooking, Jack," she smiles, watching as Aaron tugs him to the living room where the toys are.

Half an hour later she has put dinner on the table and heads to the other room to collect her boys. Jack is lying on his stomach on the ground, helping Aaron to put his train track together.

"Hi, Mommy. We play trains," he grins at her.

"Why don't you go wash your hands so we can eat?" While he scampers off to the bathroom, she offers Jack a hand to help him up from the floor. "So I see you moved on from cars to trains?"

"Yeah. Sorry about the mess; I'll help him clean up after we eat," he says as he follows her into the kitchen.

"I'm use to it, Jack."

"Now I know why you couldn't make promises about fruit," he sits at the table, taking in the bowls of berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple that she has put out. "You weren't in here preparing all of this just now, right? I would've helped you."

"No, I keep fruit cut up for us to eat." She heads to the fridge and grabs the ketchup bottle for Aaron. "I think I have some mustard if you want it for your burger?"

He shakes his head, "Ketchup is fine."

Aaron runs into the kitchen then, and she picks him up and places him in the chair at the end of the table between her and Jack. "Watermelon!" he grins at seeing the red fruit. As Kate pours ketchup onto his plate and cuts up half of the burger for him to eat, Jack puts some watermelon on the plate for him.

The adults talk as they eat, Aaron too interested in his fries and watermelon to participate. He studies the pieces of burger on his plate and then looks up at Jack as the doctor eats his own burger. Kate watches as her son tentatively puts one of the pieces in his mouth. He makes a funny face at first, but he finishes chewing and swallows the piece.

"You should dip it in ketchup like your fries," Jack points out. Aaron takes another piece, dips it as suggested, and then eats it. "See? Isn't that better than all of those vegetables your mom makes you eat?"

"Vegetables are yuck," the boy agrees, grinning at Jack.

"Thanks, Jack, that's very helpful," she glares at him.

"I can't say I've ever tried a veggie burger, but I'm sure it's not as good as what we're eating." Kate holds her burger out, offering him a bite. "You don't have to…"

"If you're going to make fun of it, you have to try it."

He takes a bite of her burger and chews slowly, "I definitely agree with Aaron on this one - vegetables are yuck."

She shakes her head as the two boys laugh.

"Jack, take me to the park?" the blonde boy asks, finishing the last of the burger that Kate cut up for him.

"You want to go to the park?" Jack asks, finishing his own burger.

"We go swing," he nods.

"I have to clean up dinner first, Aaron," she says as she begins picking up plates. "And you were playing with your trains before dinner."

"No more trains," Aaron frowns, crossing his arms. "Want to go swing."

"I can take him," Jack offers.

"Yay!" he shouts, running to get his shoes.

"Jack…" she says quietly.

"It's the playground a couple blocks away, right? I passed it on the way here. I don't mind taking him."

"He can also learn to be patient," she sighs, crossing her own arms as she leans against the counter.

"He reminds me of someone else I know," he smiles, placing his hand on her upper arm. "You can come with us, and I'll help you clean up when we get back."

She shakes her head, "You guys go ahead, and I'll meet you there in like twenty minutes after I wash the dishes."

Aaron comes back into the kitchen with his tennis shoes in hand. Kate crouches down to put them on his feet. "You be a good boy for Jack, and hold his hand until you get to the park."

"Okay, Mommy," he smiles and kisses her on the cheek once his shoes are on. She watches as he takes Jack's hand and the two head to the front door.

Half an hour later Kate is approaching the two in the park. Jack is holding Aaron up so he can pretend to cross the monkey bars.

"Mommy, I flew," Aaron runs up to her once he is put on the ground again.

"You flew?" she asks, holding out a jacket for him to put on as the evening air is getting chillier.

"On the swings," he says, running over to them after his jacket is on. As Jack lifts him up into the swing, Kate seats herself on the swing next to her son. "Make Mommy fly too," Aaron tells Jack as he starts to push him.

Once the boy is flying high in his swing, Jack walks over to Kate, his hands coming to rest on her back, "You heard him, Kate. Hold on."

She turns her head to look over her shoulder at him for a long moment, studying him, before finally turning back around and wrapping her hands around the chains of the swing to hold on.

After another ten minutes of swinging, Aaron wants to go down the slides. Jack lifts him out of the swing, and he races toward the jungle gym. He then takes Kate's hand and leads her on a walk around the playground as they keep an eye on Aaron. "He's grown so much since I saw him last."

"I can't believe he's going to be two years old in just a few months. Sometimes it seems like the plane just crashed last week."

"You're doing a great job with him. Claire and Charlie… they'd be so proud of him."

She watches Aaron go down the smaller slide and then start climbing up again. "I wish they were here to see him."

They remain quiet for a long while, still walking hand in hand before Jack finally speaks again. "I meant what I said yesterday - I really did miss seeing you."

"I've wanted to call you so many times since that day," she looks shyly down at their hands.

He stops, turning to face her, "I'm sorry for everything I said to you."

She leans up to kiss him, and just as their lips meet, a yell interrupts them. "Mommy!"

Kate turns around and finds her son at the top of the jungle gym, attempting to cross the rope bridge to get to the highest slide. "Aaron, what have I told you about that slide?"

"I stuck, Mommy."

She sighs, and Jack smirks, "Yeah, he definitely reminds me of you."

"Okay, Jack will come up to get you," she calls, payback for his comment.

"Uh, Kate… I think I'm a little too big to get up there. Besides, you're the one that likes to climb things."

"Fine. But just so you know… I've seen dads climb up there before," she pokes him in the side before climbing up the rock wall to get up to Aaron. "It's okay, baby; it isn't going to break," she smiles when she approaches him still on the rope bridge.

"It moves," he says, trying his best to keep still but anxious to get off the bridge.

"It's going to move more if I come out there to get you."

He frowns at her, "No move."

"Then you either have to come to me or go towards the slide."

He takes a hesitant step closer to the slide, and when the bridge wiggles again, he darts across. "I did it," he turns around to smile at her.

"Alright, go down the slide. Jack is waiting for you down there."

"Mommy slide too?" he asks, nervous now that he has finally made it to the big slide.

She crosses the rope bridge to meet him. "Do you want me to go first or go together?"

"Together," he smiles and climbs into her lap when she sits down at the top of the slide.

"Ready?" At the boy's nod, she pushes off, and they go down the windy slide.

"Did you have fun?" Jack asks when they reach the bottom.

"Yes."

"Alright, baby, I think it is getting to be your bed time," Kate says, standing and picking her son up.

"Aw," Aaron says as they head back to the house. "Jack read bedtime story?"

"Uh, sure," Jack says, suppressing a yawn.

Kate watches him as they walk home, realizing he looks kind of tired. When they get inside, she puts Aaron down and tells him to go pick out pajamas before she gives him a bath. Then she turns to the doctor, "Jack, you look exhausted. You can go home; he'll understand."

"No, it's fine. Just got called in early to do a surgery this morning. Besides, I haven't had any alone time with you yet," he tries to smile but ends up yawning again.

"It's going to take me a half hour to bathe him. Why don't you take a quick nap?"

"Actually a nap sounds good."

She leads him upstairs to her bedroom. "You can rest here. I'll wake you up when he's done with his bath."

"Sure," he nods, sitting on the edge of her bed and looking around.

Twenty-five minutes later, Aaron is out of the bathtub, dressed in pajamas, and has brushed his teeth. "You go pick out a book, and I'll get Jack," she tells him, sending him off to his bedroom.

She enters her room to find Jack lying on his back, completely out. She sighs, knowing Aaron will be disappointed, but she can't bring herself to wake him.

"Baby, Jack's sleeping. He's really tired. Maybe he can read to you some other night, okay?" she tucks the covers around the young boy. "But I can read to you tonight."

He sighs, "Okay, Mommy."

She only gets through three pages of the book he had picked before she finds her son sound asleep as well. She sets the book down, kisses his forehead, and whispers good night to him before turning the lights off and shutting the door. Before heading to her room, she goes back downstairs to turn the lights off and ensure the doors are locked. When she gets back to her bedroom, she finds Jack still asleep in the middle of her bed. She quickly changes into yoga pants and a tank top to sleep in, then contemplates where to sleep. After a moment's hesitation, she climbs into the bed beside him, careful not to impede his space but close enough to feel his warmth as she also falls asleep.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Jack blinks awake and immediately freezes when he realizes there is a warm body next to him. After his eyes adjust to the dim light coming in as the sun rises, he finds a familiar head of curly brown hair lying on her side facing him, very little space between their bodies and her hand clutching his shirt as she continues to sleep. It is then that he realizes his arm is around her, his hand touching the skin at the small of her back where her shirt had ridden up.

He carefully moves his hand from her back up to her face, gently brushing some stray curls from her face so that he can study her as she sleeps. Unable to resist, he leans in to press his lips to her forehead. She slowly stirs, her hand tightening its grip on his shirt. "Good morning," he whispers.

"Don't go yet," she mumbles, moving closer to him.

He checks the clock on the nightstand over her shoulder, "I can stay for a little while."

"Good," she says, opening her eyes to look at him.

"Sorry I fell asleep," he smiles at her.

"Aaron was exhausted too. Told him you'd read to him some other time."

"I'm not on call this weekend. Maybe I could come over then and read to him," his hand moves down to her hip, his thumb making soft circles on her skin.

"Okay."

"And maybe you'll let me take you out."

"I will have to ask the nanny if she is free this weekend."

"Aaron has a nanny?"

"Someone had to watch him while I was in prison for over four months, Jack."

"Four months?" he asks, surprised.

She shrugs, "They thought I was a flight risk."

He laughs, "Well, I guess if I had to bet on it, I never would have thought you would stay put either."

Ignoring his comment, she says, "Anyway, I'm pretty sure you had a way more privileged childhood than I ever did, Jack. One where children have nannies."

"I didn't have a nanny."

"She was just a babysitter before I went to prison, watched him once or twice a week when I ran errands or had to meet with my lawyer. She was great with him while I was gone… except the chicken fingers. I don't intend for him to have a full-time nanny now that I'm free."

"Get any tattoos in prison?" he asks, teasing her since she had always been so interested in his tattoos.

"No," she says, running her hand over the ink covering his upper arm.

"Bet you caused a lot of trouble."

"I didn't want to ruin my chances of getting out if I wasn't convicted. I was a model prisoner."

"Get in any fights?"

She smiles and looks at her hand resting on his chest, "Just one. She started it."

"And you finished it?" he grins. When she doesn't respond, he knows that he is correct. "You know, I can't imagine you sitting in a prison cell all day."

"It was awful. When we first crashed, I thought nothing could be worse than being stranded on an island. But at least I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted on the island. Even those cages the Others put us in weren't so bad in comparison."

"I, uh… your mom was supposed to testify but she had some kind of medical emergency, right? Is she okay? Because if she needs help, I can refer her to a good specialist for whatever she needs," he offers, unaware of her history with her mother.

She rolls onto her back, moving away from him. "I have no idea where or how she is."

"Why was she testifying for the prosecution anyway? Why would she want to help put you in jail when you were just trying to help her?" he asks, suddenly confused.

Kate turns her face away from him and closes her eyes. "She's the one who turned me in for killing him. She tried to make a deal with me; she wanted to see Aaron, thought he was her grandson. But I refused, wanted nothing to do with her. I… I don't know why she didn't testify."

"Oh… I'm sorry, Kate."

They both remain silent for several minutes, neither knowing what else to talk about.

"I guess I should probably be leaving for work," Jack says, sitting up. "I certainly did not miss the LA traffic while we were on the island."

She laughs and follows him down the stairs, "Yeah, I still don't understand why it takes so long to get anywhere in this city."

He turns to smile at her, "I'll give you a call when I get off work and we can talk about this weekend."

"Okay," she nods.

He leans in to kiss her, but she turns her head when Aaron calls out for her and his lips meet her cheek instead. "Sorry," she whispers, biting her lip. "You should probably go now, or he's going to keep you here for another hour."

"Mommy?" Aaron calls again.

"Talk to you later," Jack quickly presses his lips to hers before heading out the door.

"Yes, Aaron?" Kate turns around to find him approaching the top of the stairs.

"Jack gone," the boy pouts, carefully making his way down the stairs to her. "He didn't read to me."

When he reaches her, she picks him up, "Well, he had to go to work. But he said he'll come back this weekend to see you and read you a bedtime story."

"Yay!"

"Now, how about we go make breakfast?" she says as she carries him to the kitchen.

 **~Lost~**

Jack waits for nearly a full minute after ringing the door bell before she answers, still in her pajamas and looking somewhat sleepy. "Hey, Jack," she says with a yawn, stepping out of the way to let him in. "Aaron just woke up; he was having nightmares last night so neither one of us slept all that well."

"Jack?" Aaron yells, running around the corner from the living room to the entryway and wrapping his arms around the man's legs.

"Hey, buddy, it's good to see you again. I got something for you."

"Flowers?" the boy frowns at the bouquet of purple flowers that Jack is holding.

"No, those are for your mom," he smiles at Kate as he hands them over. Then he hands Aaron the bag he had been carrying, "This is for you."

"Wow," Aaron exclaims as he pulls out a toy airplane and starts running around the house pretending that it's flying.

"So… we haven't gotten to breakfast yet. Care to join us?"

"How about I cook breakfast for you? And you can relax or go back to sleep for a bit?"

"Alright. Maybe I'll go shower, see if that wakes me up," she smiles.

"I'll have coffee waiting for you in case it doesn't," he grins, taking a small step closer to her and reaching out to put his hands on her waist.

Just then Aaron runs in between them, flying his airplane around the house and forcing the adults to move further apart.

"I think the island has given him special powers to sense when I try to kiss you," Jack whispers.

She laughs, "Sure, Jack."

Half an hour later Kate comes downstairs to find Jack and Aaron making waffles, and she smiles at the sight of the two of them together. The table is already set for the three of them with the flowers he had brought in a vase in the center. Jack catches her watching them out of the corner of his eye, but before he can react, the phone rings, and she steps out of the room to answer it.

When she returns, Aaron and Jack are sitting at the table waiting for her. As she takes a seat with them, Aaron says, "We go to the zoo, Mommy."

"The zoo?" she asks, looking between the two of them.

"Aaron told me he's never been. I thought the three of us could spend the day together at the zoo before you and I go to dinner," Jack says as he serves each of them.

"Actually dinner's going to have to be rescheduled. That was Veronica on the phone; her mother is in the hospital so she can't watch him tonight."

"Oh…" the doctor says, unable to stop the disappointment that crosses his face. "I guess we can all go out to dinner then."

"You read to me?" Aaron asks, digging into the waffle that Kate cuts up and covers in syrup for him.

"Sure, buddy, I will read to you tonight."

"Yay!"

They chatter about all of the animals that they will see at the zoo while they eat. Jack sends Kate to get Aaron ready while he cleans up the dishes from breakfast. Once Aaron is dressed, he goes to play with some of his cars while she helps Jack.

"Sorry about tonight," she says quietly.

"It's not your fault," he smiles at her. "I was thinking… my mom was always pestering me and Sarah for grandchildren when we were married. And she was fond of you and Aaron when we first got back from the island. Maybe… she could watch him so we could go out."

"I don't know, Jack. I've never left him with anyone but Veronica before."

"Just think about it, Kate," he brushes his hand over hers.

"Are you just trying to get me alone, Jack?" she smirks as she puts the waffle maker away, avoiding meeting his gaze. He frowns, not sure how to answer. "I'll think about it. But you promised to read to him tonight."

"I will," he dries his hands on a towel before placing them on the counter on either side of her waist. "But some alone time would be nice."

"Time for the zoo?" Aaron asks, carrying a car into the kitchen with him as he comes to find them.

"Yes," Jack says, moving away from her to pick the boy up. "We just have to get your car seat in my truck."

Kate glares at him, "We are not riding in that death trap of yours."

"Aw," the boys pouts.

"It's perfectly safe," the doctor insists.

"No. It's just easier to take my car."

"She's no fun," Jack whispers to Aaron as they head to the door.

"I heard that," she shakes her head as she locks the front door behind them and hands her car keys to him.

~Lost~

"I hungry," Aaron says as they leave the elephants. "And I gotta potty."

"There are some food places up ahead. Why don't you go on and get lunch? I'll take him to the bathroom," Jack suggests.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Uh… I'm not really that picky, Kate."

She grins, "Then I will get you a vegetarian meal too."

"Just pick whatever is least appetizing to you, and I will probably like it," he laughs as they part, him guiding Aaron over to the nearest restrooms.

Ten minutes later Kate carries a tray with their lunch over to the table that the boys are seated at. She places a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of Aaron and hands Jack a turkey and ham sandwich before sitting down to her salad.

"Mommy, guess what?" Aaron exclaims, the words somewhat garbled around the big bite of sandwich he had taken. "Boys pee standing up."

"They do?" she turns to Jack and finds him wincing as he avoids her gaze.

"Jack's gonna teach me," he says, taking another bite of peanut butter and jelly.

"He is?"

"The bathroom was kind of busy, and Aaron was… curious," Jack mumbles.

"Maybe Jack can teach you when you're a little older," she smiles at Aaron.

After a few minutes of eating, Aaron asks, "Can I have a polar bear?"

"Uh…" she glances at Jack, the connection to the island noted by both of them. "I know that the bears looked fun when they were playing in the water, but they aren't pets."

"It stay in my room."

"No, we are not getting a polar bear."

"Aw…"

As they eat, they talk about the favorite animals that they've seen so far - Aaron's is still the polar bears - and the animals that they are going to see that afternoon. "We still have the lions and tigers," Jack says.

"Roar," Aaron smiles.

"You seen the _Lion King_?" Jack asks.

"What's that?"

"You have?" Kate asks skeptically. "Weren't you in med school when that came out?"

"My ex-wife was an elementary school teacher. You seen it?" At her head shake, he smiles, "You'd like it. The little lion cub is spunky and adventurous and doesn't listen to anyone."

She ignores his jab and takes another bite of her salad.

"So what is your favorite Disney movie?"

" _Beauty and the Beast,_ " she blushes, intently studying her salad. "Tom… took me to see it on our first official date."

"And you actually watched the movie? I would've thought you'd be too busy making out to pay attention to it."

She throws a crouton at him and laughs, "It might be hard for you to believe, but I was not always a bad person."

He hesitates for a moment before responding, a shy smile on his face. "I don't think you're a bad person, Kate."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Kate twists around in the passenger seat of her car and finds Aaron sound asleep, the stuffed polar bear Jack bought him hugged tightly to his chest. They had spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the zoo and had grabbed a couple slices of pizza for dinner and some ice cream before leaving. It had taken both of them to convince him to put the polar bear down so that he wouldn't get it dirty while eating.

As she turns back around to face forward, she yawns, "He's not going to be easy to get to bed if we let him sleep the whole way home."

"Well, I did promise him a bedtime story," Jack smiles, glancing over at her. "Looks like someone else is tired too."

"Yeah," she agrees, watching him drive.

Half an hour later they reach her house. Aaron wakes when Jack lifts him from the car seat. "Where bear?" he asks.

"Mommy will get your bear from the car. I think it's your bedtime, buddy," he carefully balances Aaron with one arm as he unlocks the door.

"Bedtime story?" Aaron asks, suddenly more awake.

"You have to get ready for bed first," she says, following them up the stairs. She gets Aaron dressed for bed and helps him brush his teeth. He picks out a book and then climbs into bed. Kate tucks him in, places the polar bear next to him, and kisses his forehead. "Good night."

"Night, Mommy. Love you."

She gives Jack a smile before heading off to her bedroom. He opens The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and starts reading. Aaron stays wide awake, excited for the story, for almost a full hour, begging Jack to keep reading. It is when Dorothy meets the Scarecrow as she travels along the yellow brick road when he finally sees Aaron yawn sleepily. "I think it's time for bed. You don't want to miss the story. We can continue it another night."

Aaron rubs at his eyes and then pulls his polar bear close, "Okay. You better at stories than Mommy."

"You better not tell her that." He hesitates, then kisses the top of the boy's head, "Good night."

"Love you, Jack," Aaron whispers as his eyes close.

Jack pulls the door closed behind him and pauses in the hallway. To his great surprise, he is pleased at Aaron's words, not afraid. He takes the few steps necessary to get to her bedroom, finally ready to tell her how he feels, but she is sound asleep on the bed, exhaustion catching up to her between their busy day and the lack of sleep the night before. He smiles at the sight of her curled up on her side, a peaceful smile on her face, and he can't bring himself to wake her. He slips into the bed beside her and wraps an arm around her, then pulls the sheet up over them. A few minutes later she unconsciously shifts beside him, moving closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder.

 **~Lost~**

Jack wakes up to Kate's lips pressed against his neck. Her lips shift up to his jaw, and she moves her body over his. "Sorry I fell asleep last night," she whispers, her lips finally meeting his.

As they continue to kiss, his hands sneak under her tank top to explore her back. He flips them over and pulls back to look in her eyes, "Kate… are you…?"

She smiles, "I think I'm the one who started this, Jack."

He leans in to capture her lips again.

There is a soft knock on the door, and then it opens, "Mommy?"

Jack rolls off of her and closes his eyes. She rubs a hand over her face and then sits up to greet her son, "Hey, baby."

He approaches the bed, "Hi, Mama. Jack still here?"

"Uh… yeah, he is."

He climbs up into the bed next to her, "I hungry. What we eat?"

Glancing at the clock, she finds it is almost nine in the morning - no wonder Aaron is awake and interrupting them. "What do you want for breakfast?" she smiles at him.

"Cereal?"

"Okay. Why don't you go watch cartoons and I'll be down in a little bit to get your cereal?"

"Okay, Mommy," he climbs down and scampers out of the room and down the stairs.

Once Aaron is gone, she rolls over to look at Jack, "Do you think your mom can babysit today?"

"Kate…"

She leans in to kiss him, "I need some time alone with you, Jack."

He grins, "I can give her a call."

 **~Lost~**

"You pretty, Mommy," Aaron says as she helps him out of the car.

"Thank you," she smooths down her blue and green sundress and then squats down in front of him. Jack had insisted that he couldn't just take her to bed after they dropped Aaron off so he had made a reservation for a late lunch. "So you're going to be good for Jack's mom?"

He nods, "You come back for me?"

"Of course," she kisses his cheek. "Jack and I will be back in a few hours before it even gets dark out."

"And Jack read to me again?"

"Jack has to work tomorrow. But he can stay and read to you if he wants to."

"Okay," he hugs her. When he lets go, mother and son join the other mother and son pair waiting at the door. "Hi," Aaron smiles up at the strange woman in front of him.

"You must be Aaron. You've gotten so much bigger since I last saw you," Jack's mom smiles down at the boy. Aaron follows the adults into the large house and takes his backpack of toys off.

"Thank you so much for taking care of him on such short notice, Margot," Kate smiles at his mom.

"It's no problem. I'm just happy to see you and my son back together. Now, you two get out of here. I've got your phone numbers in case there is an emergency."

An hour later Jack and Kate are seated outside on the patio of a restaurant on the Santa Monica pier, their waitress setting their meals in front of them. "Of course I would pick a steak place for lunch and forget that you're a vegetarian," Jack says after the waitress leaves.

"It's fine, Jack. I'm sure the pasta is also delicious," she smiles and takes a bite.

"How long have you been a vegetarian?"

She nudges her plate towards him to offer him some of the noodles. While he takes a bite, she steals a forkful of his mashed potatoes. "High school. I grew up in the middle of the cornfields; everyone had animals that they raised to be slaughtered."

"Ah, so your dad killed Wilbur when you were younger?"

"We were like the only people in town who didn't actually have a farm. And Wayne was absolutely worthless around the house so I don't think he would have been slaughtering animals if we had had any."

"You growing up on a farm would explain a lot of things," he smiles.

"Well, we didn't have a farm. But Tom's family did. I snuck over and helped him with his chores many times so that he would be free to hang out. His family was actually disappointed when he decided to become a doctor instead of taking over the farm," she steals more of his potatoes.

"I can get you your own potatoes if you want," he offers.

"Where is the fun in that?" she smirks.

"So Tom's dad killed Wilbur?"

She makes a face at that, "Pigs are kind of gross. The horses were actually the only animals I sort of liked."

"Oh, so you were one of those girls who wanted a pony."

She shrugs, "Not really."

He looks out at the waves crashing into the shore, "You know, I've kind of avoided the beach since we've been back."

"Me too."

"Aaron would like it. We should bring him sometime."

"Or you just want an excuse to see me in a bikini."

"You can skinny dip if you want," he grins. Kate shakes her head at him but smiles back.

 **~Lost~**

"You okay?" Jack rolls onto his side so that he can look at her.

"Much better than okay, Jack," she assures him, opening her eyes and giving him a shy smile as her breathing evens out.

"Good," he leans in to capture her lips again.

She lets him deepen the kiss, their tongues tangling for a few minutes, then pulls back, "I think we have to pick up Aaron soon, Jack."

He checks the clock on the nightstand and sighs, "I guess so."

"But if you want to stay the night…" she smiles before kissing him one last time, then sits up, clutching the sheet to her chest.

He stands up and pulls his boxers on, then hands her discarded undergarments back to her, "We both seem to fall asleep though when we're at your place. Or someone interrupts us."

"Hopefully he's been good for your mom."

"I'm sure they were fine, Kate. He's a great kid, and he's lucky to have you as his mom," he comes to stand in front of her, jeans now on and her dress in his hands.

She stands and lets him put her dress back on her, turning around for him to zip it. He brushes her hair to one side of her neck so that he can place a kiss on her shoulder, but when his eyes land on her skin, he freezes. She doesn't notice his hesitation as she turns back around, "You should pack a bag, bring some clothes over to the house."

"Uh… okay," he says, his eyes flashing up to hers briefly before focusing on her neck again.

"Is… something wrong?"

"No… nothing wrong," he answers quickly. "Just… maybe you should put your hair on the other side and… stay in the car when we stop to get Aaron."

She frowns at him, confusion clear on her face. Her hand comes up to brush against the skin of her shoulder and neck where he is staring, and when she finds a tender spot, her frown deepens. He doesn't follow her to the bathroom, not wanting to be within striking distance when she sees the mark he had left on her, and gathers his dress shirt from the floor. "You bit me?" she asks, stepping out of the bathroom to find him buttoning his shirt up.

"I'm… sorry?" he fails at trying to hide his smile, finding angry Kate to be adorable. "If it makes you feel better, I think your nails left marks on me too."

"I don't have make up with me to cover this up, Jack. Your mother…"

"I have to face her too, Kate. And… well, she was probably not under any delusion of what we were doing while she babysat."

She shakes her head, "If Aaron ever brings some girl home with a hickey, I will kill both of them."

He laughs at her, "He's not even two yet, Kate."

"And yet he knows that biting people is wrong," she counters.

Jack wraps his arms around her and kisses her, "You didn't seem to be complaining at the time."

Her fingers come up to lightly caress the skin of his neck next to his Adam's apple as her lips move to his earlobe, "You should probably wipe that smug look off your face, Jack. Or you might end up with a matching mark to explain to everyone at work tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I can watch him, Kate. It's not a problem. I only have one appointment Wednesday afternoon anyway; I'll just have them reschedule the patient and leave work early."

"You don't have to do that. They've probably been waiting for months for this appointment with you," she says, taking a seat on the couch next to him.

He laughs, "Definitely not months; I'm not that good, Kate. I have a couple openings the next day, or I'll just see if they can come in early in the morning."

"I'll take Aaron with me. Maybe he'll keep the meeting short if I have a kid with me," she gives him a small smile.

"What is this meeting for anyway?"

"I just have to check in with my parole officer every few months. It mostly just involves him judging me for killing my father and being a single mother. Or at least that's what the last meeting was."

"I'm sorry," Jack puts his arm around her.

"It's better than being in jail."

"Well… you could tell him about me; then he won't be able to judge you for being a single mom anymore," he grins at her.

"We've only been dating for a few weeks, Jack," she looks at him, trying to be serious, but she can't stop the smile that escapes.

"It feels like it's been so much longer," he kisses her temple. "But I'm serious about this, about us. I love you, and I love Aaron. I'm not going to leave you again."

"And Aaron and I both care about you, Jack Shephard, so you had better not be lying about leaving," Kate straddles his lap and gives him a mischievous smile.

His hands come to rest on her hips, "I'm sorry that I left before, Kate."

Her hands cup his cheeks, "It's okay, Jack. All that matters is that you are here now."

 **~Lost~**

Jack picks Aaron up, "Don't worry, Kate. It's just a few hours. We will be fine."

"You've got my phone number if you need anything?"

"Yes, Kate."

"You're not to take him anywhere in that car of yours," she warns sternly.

"We are going to have plenty of fun right here at home," he assures her.

"Bye, Mommy," Aaron waves at her with a smile.

"Alright, don't cause too much trouble while I'm gone," she kisses her son and then her boyfriend.

The two boys walk her to the door and wave goodbye. Once she has pulled out of the driveway, Jack sets Aaron down. "So what are we going to do, buddy?"

"Make a cake," Aaron says excitedly.

"Make a cake?"

"Yeah, for Mommy's birfday."

The doctor frowns; she had never mentioned that her birthday was today. Of course, it wasn't something she would just bring up as she rarely shared personal information, though she had gotten somewhat better since they started dating. And he had never really bothered to ask her about her birthday either. So without much thought, he trusts that the little boy is right. "Okay, we'll make Mommy a birthday cake."

Fortunately she has a cookbook, and he is able to find a simple cake recipe for them to follow as he had very little experience in baking. Her kitchen is pretty well stocked, though it is still lacking a little too much in the meat department for his liking, and he is able to find all of the ingredients needed.

Three hours later, the kitchen is a complete mess, but the cake is baked and they are just finishing mixing the icing. When he hears her key in the front door, Jack takes one look around the kitchen and panics. "You stay right here, Aaron. I'll be back in just a few minutes. Mommy came home too early."

He comes out of the kitchen and stops her in the hallway, "Hey."

"Hey," she eyes the white powder covering the front of his dark blue polo shirt warily. "What are you two doing?"

"I'm sorry, Kate. I didn't get you a present," he starts to reach out for her arm, then decides better of it when he realizes his hand is dyed purple from the food coloring used in the icing.

"A present for what?"

"Your birthday."

She frowns at him, "It's not my birthday."

"Really?" Jack briefly turns to look back towards the kitchen, not sure who to believe right now.

"What's going on?" she tries to step around him, but he cuts off her path. She glares at him, "Jack."

"Why don't you just go wait for us in the living room?" he suggests with a placating smile. She puts a hand on his shoulder and pushes him out of her way, and he is unable to stop her from getting by without using his hands. "I swear I'll clean it up, Kate," he says, following her into the kitchen.

She freezes just inside the doorway. Flour and sugar are all over the counter and floor, and there is a pile of dirty bowls and spoons in the sink. Her eyes finally land on Aaron, who is seated at the kitchen table, bowl of purple frosting in front of him. He pulls the mixing spoon for the frosting away from his mouth and smiles at her, "Hi, Mommy."

She looks over at the man standing next to her, "You are in so much trouble."

Aaron comes running at them, and Jack just barely catches him before he can ruin her nice clothes with his sticky fingers. "I think Mommy's a little mad at us right now, buddy," Jack lifts him up.

"But we made you birfday cake," he pouts at her.

Her heart melts, "But you just made me a cake for my birthday with Veronica. Don't you remember?"

"Yes, but cake is yummy, Mommy," he smiles at her.

Jack tries not to smile; the boy was definitely too smart for his own good, and they were going to have their hands full as he got older. "Why don't we get you in the bathtub before we get the rest of the house dirty and make Mommy angrier with us?" he suggests.

"I'll bathe him. I think you have plenty of work to do down here, Jack," she glares at him.

"Okay, just let me take him upstairs so that he doesn't touch anything on the way."

"Those filthy clothes are not going upstairs." She stands in the doorway, blocking their path. He sets the boy down and undresses him, leaving him in his underwear. "Aaron isn't the only one with dirty clothes."

He looks down at his flour-covered shirt and with a sigh pulls it over his head. "You happy now?" She crosses her arms and looks pointedly down at his jeans, which have flour handprints of two different sizes on them. He keeps his eyes fixed on hers as he pulls his jeans off.

Then she turns around and heads up the stairs, Jack following her with Aaron. She turns the water for the bathtub on, then heads to her room to change out of her dress clothes. On her way back, he corners her outside the bathroom, "So can I put my clothes back on to clean?"

She shrugs, "I might be less angry with you if I come downstairs and find you cleaning the kitchen in just your boxers."

"Don't be too mad at him, Kate," he leans in to kiss her cheek, still careful to keep his hands away from her.

"I'm not mad. It was actually kind of sweet, even if he did just want cake," she smiles.

"So it's just me that your upset with?"

"You should know better, Jack," she says sternly, but softens her words with a kiss. "But… the thought of the two of you baking together is kind of cute. I just wish I had been here to see it."

He watches her enter the bathroom to bathe her son, satisfied that he had made her happy even if she was still somewhat angry at him for the mess.

After half an hour of scrubbing Aaron's blonde hair, face, and hands free of sugar and purple dye, Kate leaves Aaron playing with his toys in his room and finds Jack downstairs, the kitchen now clean except for the bowl of icing that the boy had been enjoying previously. She crosses her arms and leans against the doorway to watch him finish the dishes in his boxers.

"June eighth," he says without turning around, having heard her footsteps on the stairs. She crosses the kitchen to come to stand beside him. "You didn't tell me it was your birthday the day before I testified and you were not convicted."

She frowns at him, "How did you find that out?"

"Checked your ID when I came downstairs," he smirks at her.

"Going through my things now, Jack?" she shakes her head at him, though he can tell she isn't angry about it. "You could have just asked."

"March twenty-third," the doctor states as he sets the last dish in the drying rack.

"I know when your birthday is."

"Really? Because I don't remember getting a card from you."

"I was in prison, and you didn't want to see us anyway. But I'm pretty sure I took you out for dinner last year."

"Hm… I guess I remember that."

She slips her hand into her pocket, "Well… I may have a very belated birthday present for you."

He places his hand on her arm to stop her movement, "Kate, I already have everything I need. Being here with you and Aaron these last few weeks has been amazing."

Kate smiles at him and, unable to stop herself, lifts up on her tip toes to kiss him, hands coming up to rest on his muscular chest. As he distracts her with more kisses, his hand rises to cover hers. She pulls back to look at him, her fingers still clutched around something small, "I thought you didn't want the present."

"I didn't say that," he steals another kiss. Suddenly becoming shy, she slowly lowers her hand and uncurls her fingers. He looks from the key she is holding to her eyes. "What's this?"

"A key."

"I can see that. What does it go to?" Her eyes shift from his towards the front entrance of the house, and he follows her gaze. "Are you asking me to move in, Kate?"

"…Uh…" she looks down at the key still in her hand. "Not exactly. It's just… you're here nearly every day so I figured you should have a key. But if you want to move in…"

Jack wraps his arms around her and kisses her temple, "No, this is more than enough. Thank you, Kate."

Aaron walks into the kitchen at that moment, "Time for cake?"

"I think you had enough cake earlier. You need to eat dinner and then we'll talk about cake," she smiles at the boy.

"I ordered dinner while you were upstairs. It should be here soon."

"Thanks. Maybe you should go shower before it comes," she suggests. He nods and heads upstairs, and she steps away to pick up the dirty clothes on the floor. When she picks up his jeans, she finds his wallet and keys still in the pocket, and she attaches her house key to his collection. After putting the clothes in the washer, she comes back to the kitchen and spots Aaron holding the bowl of frosting that Jack had left on the table.

"Put frosting on cake?" he smiles up at her.

She takes the bowl from him, happy to find that he had not gotten himself dirty again. "Why don't I frost the cake, sweetheart?"

"I watch?"

"Sure," she brings one of the kitchen chairs over to the counter and he climbs up on it to watch when she starts spreading the purple icing.

"Sprinkles?" he asks when she is done frosting.

She opens a cabinet door to check for sprinkles. While she is on her tip toes reaching for it, Jack comes up behind her, reaching around her and easily grabbing the container of sprinkles. "Here you go, bud," he hands the shaker of colorful sprinkles to the little boy.

The doorbell then rings, and Jack goes to pay for their food. Minutes later they are sitting down to eat together. Aaron takes two bites of the Chinese food then states, "I full, Mommy."

"Are you sure?" she asks, and he nods. "If you don't eat more of your dinner, you're not getting cake later."

"But I not hungry."

"Okay," she turns back to her own food as he leaves the table to play with his train.

Jack uses his chopsticks to put a piece of chicken in his mouth, "Sorry that I let him have too much sugar while we were baking."

"I think he gets his sweet tooth from Claire. And his love of peanut butter."

He laughs and steals some of her noodles, "I think there is someone else with a sweet tooth that may have passed it on to him."

"Are you calling me a bad influence?" she asks, pointing her fork at him.

"No. I'm just pointing out that Aaron is not the only one who likes dessert."

"You know… if you're not nice, Jack, I might take that key back," she smiles.

"Not a chance."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Swim now?" Aaron takes a couple steps across the sand towards the water.

"Hold on a second, baby. Jack's going to go in the water with you," Kate reaches out for the boy to keep him from getting closer. "You have to take your sandals off first."

While the boy sits own in the sand to remove his shoes, she takes the bottle of sunscreen out and puts the lotion on his fair skin.

Jack pulls his t-shirt off and smiles at her, "I'll do your back if you do mine."

She rolls her eyes at him as she finishes applying the lotion to Aaron's face. Then she stands and steps around the doctor to cover his back. When she is done, she hands the bottle to him so he can finish with the rest of his body.

"You're going to have to take that off," he says, motioning to her tank top and jean shorts over her swimwear.

"I'm good," she says, not looking at him as she watches Aaron play with the sand.

He touches her arm to draw her attention, "You okay?"

After a long pause, she nods.

"If you change your mind…" he hands the tube back to her. "You ready, Aaron?"

"Yes," the boy exclaims, jumping up. He takes Jack's hand, and they walk down to the water together.

Kate smiles sadly as she watches her son splash around in the waves that come ashore. She settles down on one of the beach towels that they had laid out, bringing her knees up to her chest as she thinks back to all the time she had spent on another beach, looking out at the water.

Jack and Aaron make their way further out into the water. "Why Mommy no swim?" Aaron asks when they turn back to look at the shore, holding tight to the doctor.

"I don't know, buddy," he says, walking through the water with Aaron in his arms.

"She scared?"

"No, I don't think she's scared," he chuckles to himself, knowing that there is very little that Kate is afraid of. He sets the boy down once they get to shallow water, and he runs over to her.

"Mommy!" he grabs her hand and tugs on it. "Come in the water."

"Jack's in the water with you," she argues gently.

"But I want you," he smiles at her, and she can't say no to him even though she suspects that Jack has put him up to this.

"Alright. You go back to Jack, and I'll be there in a minute," she tells him as she stands.

The two boys are playing in the water when she makes her way down to them, the older one's back to her as he bends down to splash the younger. She comes to a stop a few yards away from them, standing with her ankles in the water as she watches them. A few minutes later they finally realize she has joined them.

Jack runs his eyes down her body, taking in the bikini she is wearing. "Sinking again?" he finally asks as he notices her feet buried in the sand.

"Maybe," she smiles gently at him. "I didn't expect being here to hit me so hard."

"I understand, Kate. I should have asked you before I brought it up in front of Aaron this morning."

"It's fine. It was a good idea anyway; he's enjoying himself," she says, frowning slightly when she realizes that Aaron is no longer on the other side of Jack.

She looks the other way, trying not to panic, and as she turns around to check further up the beach, she catches something out of the corner of her eye right before it collides with her. She lands on her back, the shock of the chilly water hitting her and causing goosebumps all over her body. Wiping the water from her eyes, she tries to glare at the two of them but isn't very successful.

"I swear I had nothing to do with it," Jack holds his hands up in self-defense.

"I don't believe you," she sits up.

Aaron comes over and wraps his arms around her, "I sorry, Mommy."

Now that the little boy is in her arms, Jack believes he is safe from payback and offers her a hand to help her up. She contemplates pulling him down into the water with them, but she ultimately decides not to as she accepts his help up.

"You know what's really fun to do on the beach, Aaron?" she asks as the three makes their way up to their towels.

"Swim?"

"Other than swimming."

"No. What, Mommy?" he looks up at her curiously.

She grins at Jack, "Covering people in sand."

An hour later she sits down on her towel while Jack stands next to her, still trying to brush the sand off of his body after they had buried him in it. "I have sand places where it shouldn't be," he grumbles as he finally sits down beside her.

She laughs, "Remind you of anything?"

"I certainly don't miss living on the beach," he smiles back. They both watch Aaron as he attempts to make a sandcastle a few yards away. "Kate… everything okay?"

"You know what today is, Jack?" she asks, eyes remaining on her son.

Jack frowns for a moment before the date finally hits him, "The plane crashed two years ago."

"I didn't even realize it until we got here. Looking out at the ocean and remembering everyone we lost… everyone we left behind…"

He reaches out to take her hand, trying to offer her some comfort even though he knows she is thinking about the other man she had met on the island. Several minutes pass in silence as they both reflect on everything that had happened to them two years ago.

"I didn't get you a present," he eventually says.

"What?" she asks, confusion clear on her face when she turns towards him.

"Today is also our anniversary."

Kate gives him a sad smile as she reaches out to touch the scar on his back, "I'm not sure that this is a day we should really be celebrating."

"It was an awful day," he agrees. "But if we didn't crash, I wouldn't have met you."

"I think there are happier days in our relationship that we can celebrate."

After a moment of studying her green eyes, he nods. "Okay. You want to go?"

She looks back out towards the water and her son playing in the sand, "No, we can stay for a while longer. Aaron is enjoying himself."

"In that case…" he holds up the sunscreen and looks at her.

"We spent three months on a tropical island, and I never got burnt."

"Yeah, well, you usually had more clothes covering you," he smirks.

With a sigh, she turns away from him and allows him to rub the lotion on her back and shoulders while she spreads some on her stomach and chest.

"Look, Mommy," Aaron says, coming up to them and holding out some seashells in his hands.

"You found some pretty shells," she smiles at him. "You want to take them home?"

He starts to nod but suddenly frowns as he drops the shell in his right hand. "It moved," he says, eyeing the shell suspiciously.

Jack picks it up and inspects it. "Look, there's a hermit crab inside," he says, flipping it over to show the boy the little bit of crab that is visible inside the shell. Aaron steps closer to his mother as he warily looks at the shell the doctor is holding out. He sets the shell down beside their beach towels, "If you sit very still, it'll come out of the shell and move around."

The little boy flips over the two shells he is still holding, inspecting them for crabs even though they clearly are not shells that a crab would use as shelter. He carefully sets them down beside the other shell and then sits down on Kate's lap to wait.

"You know what crabs do?" she asks. He shakes his head and then tilts his face up to look at her. "They pinch people," she says as she lightly pinches his side.

"No, Mommy!" he squeals in protest, grabbing her hands so she can't do it again. They sit quietly for a few minutes before his hands tighten around hers as the crab starts to peek out. When it begins crawling away from them, he moves from her lap to lay on the sand and watch it head back toward the waves.

She rests her head against his shoulder as they watch the boy and the hermit crab. "Happy anniversary, Jack," she says softly. He rests his head against hers in acknowledgement of her statement.

 **~Lost~**

Aaron barely looks up from his cartoons when Jack walks into the living room. He peers into the kitchen but doesn't see Kate around, and it appears that Aaron has been in front of the TV for a while even though she usually limits his time watching it. "Hi, Aaron. Where's your mom?" he asks, picking up the pillows that Aaron has knocked off the couch and onto the floor.

The boy stares at the screen for a long moment before finally looking at him. "Stairs," he points with one hand, grabbing a goldfish cracker from the bowl on the coffee table with the other.

"Did you eat dinner yet?"

"Fishies," he answers, holding one up before putting it in his mouth.

"Is Mommy okay?" Jack frowns, slightly worried now.

"Mommy sad."

"You stay here and watch more cartoons. I'll be back in a few minutes," the doctor says, ruffling the boy's hair before heading for the stairs.

Their bedroom is empty, and a brief moment of panic runs through him - had she taken off again, running away from both him and her son? He walks down the hall to Aaron's room and is relieved to find her curled up in the rocking chair, Aaron's polar bear clutched against her chest.

"Kate?" he prompts gently, trying not to startle her.

She still jumps slightly at the sound of his voice and quickly wipes at her cheeks, "Hey. I wasn't expecting you home from work so early."

Jack moves into the bedroom and squats down in front of her, hands gently coming to rest on her bare feet, "It's after seven, Kate."

"Really?" she asks in disbelief. "Shit, I just left Aaron in front of the TV, and I haven't made dinner yet."

"Aaron is fine," he assures her, stopping her from trying to get out of the chair. "He's still watching cartoons and eating his crackers."

Kate stays quiet, avoiding his gaze as he looks up at her, concern clear in his eyes.

"What's going on, Kate?" he asks softly.

"I'm such a terrible mother, Jack," she closes her eyes and lifts her face up toward the ceiling.

"No, you're not," he squeezes her foot to try to get her attention, but her green eyes stay hidden from him.

"I shouldn't be the one raising him. He deserves so much better."

"You are so great with him, Kate. And it's okay to let the TV entertain him for a little while when you need a break." When she doesn't answer, he moves a hand up to her knee, his thumb gently rubbing a soothing pattern over her jeans. "Look, why don't I take care of Aaron tonight? I can make all of us something for dinner and then I'll do the bedtime routine."

"Thanks, Jack. But don't worry about dinner for me; I'm not hungry."

He hadn't seen her this closed off from him since they were stuck on the island, and now his worry comes back. The hand on her knee moves up to brush against her cheek, and, surprised at his touch, her eyes open and briefly meet his. "Kate… what happened?" he asks again. "Are you still thinking about the beach? Because it's okay to be sad about what happened."

She bites her lip, hesitating for a moment longer, and then says, "Aaron made some new friends at the park today. Or… he tried to."

"That's good," he says, not sure why this has her so upset.

"No, it's not. The mothers of the two other kids were already talking so I went over to introduce myself. Ten minutes into the conversation they finally realized why I looked so familiar to them. And after they knew who I was, what I had done, they wanted nothing to do with me or Aaron, and they took their kids and left," she explains, letting the tears fall again. "I was… such an idiot to think that I could raise him and give him a normal life. Everyone knows that I am a murderer, and they want nothing to do with me. And by extension… him. He's never going to have any friends because no parent is going to want their child around me."

"Hey, it's okay, Kate. Just let some more time pass, and people will eventually forget about the crash and about your trial," he tries to reassure her. "No one on the island cared that you were a fugitive."

"Everyone kind of avoided me for a few days after Sawyer told them," she counters.

"Eventually they saw past that and realized that you are not a bad person, Kate. The other moms will come around too."

"He's going to find out what I did when he gets older. Someone is bound to tell him."

"And when you explain to him why you did it, he'll understand."

She shakes her head, "I killed my dad because he was a bad person, and I didn't want his badness to be a part of me. But in killing him, I turned myself into something worse than he was. What if Aaron feels the same way about me when he's older?"

"He won't."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. Because you love him. You're not going to make him feel like you did growing up, and he's not going to grow up hating you."

"If me killing my own father isn't enough for him to hate me, the fact that I basically kidnapped him and lied to the entire world about it will certainly cause him to."

"You didn't kidnap him. Claire left him, and you helped save him."

"That's not what you thought before," she argues.

"I was wrong. And I'm sorry that I said such awful things to you," he apologizes, wiping away her tears again.

They sit there for a long moment, looking into each others' eyes as he remains crouched down in front of her.

"Mama!" Aaron says as he wanders into the room looking for her. He comes to stand beside the rocking chair and rests a hand near her elbow as he says, "I hungry. Chicky nuggets pwease?"

Jack stands and picks the boy up, "Mommy needs some time alone right now. But why don't you and I go make some chicken nuggets for dinner?"

"K, Jack," he says, looking curiously down at his mother and wondering what is wrong. "No sad, Mommy," he smiles at her before the two boys leave the room.

The doctor feeds the boy dinner, plays cars with him for a while, and then gets him tucked into bed. "What do you want to read tonight?" he asks, perusing the bookshelf.

"Mommy read to me?" the boy questions, looking to the rocking chair that Kate had been sitting in just a short while ago.

"Uh… I don't know, buddy," he frowns slightly, wondering why Aaron wanted her to read to him today of all days when the little boy usually insisted that he be the one to read the bedtime story.

"What do you want me to read?" she asks, walking up behind Jack. He turns to look at her, surprised, and takes in her pajamas and wet hair.

"You pick, Mommy," he says.

Jack says good night to the boy, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he passes on his way out of the room. Twenty minutes later he makes his way back upstairs, having gone down to pick up Aaron's toys and clean the dishes from their dinner. Kate is just closing Aaron's door as he comes up the stairs. "Thought you might be hungry," he gives her a tentative smile as he holds up a container of strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

They walk into their bedroom together, and she digs in to the ice cream while he changes out of his dress clothes. "Thank you, Jack," she says when he sits down across from her on the bed, and she holds the spoon out to him.

He opens his mouth, allowing her to feed him. Once he swallows, he asks, "For what?"

"For believing in me."

"You're a great mother, Kate," his hand comes up to run through her damp curls as he smiles at her. "Aaron and I are both very lucky to have you."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Sorry I'm late," Jack apologizes, giving her a short kiss. "Is Aaron already asleep?"

"Yeah. He tried to wait up for you, but he only lasted fifteen minutes past his usual bedtime," she smiles, then pulls him in for another kiss. "So how did your surgeries go today?"

"Good. Both patients are doing well. They just took a little longer than I was expecting, and there was still traffic even this late in the evening."

"You hungry? Aaron and I made pizzas for dinner. He's becoming quite the little chef ever since your cake baking fiasco a couple weeks ago," she sets her book down on the coffee table and stands. He follows her to the kitchen and gets a plate out while she pulls the leftovers from the fridge. "Just don't eat the cheese pieces. Aaron's already asked if he can have pizza for lunch tomorrow," she smiles as she hands the container over to him.

"Did you put chicken on this?" he asks, not sure if he is just imagining the meat in between all of the vegetables and cheese covering the pizza.

"On your half," she replies, a small smile gracing her lips.

While he puts his plate in the microwave, she takes a seat at the island. He pulls down a glass and a mug, filling both of them with water. Once his food is heated, he puts the mug inside, then sets both his glass and plate at the seat beside her. A minute later he is sliding the mug and a tea bag across the island to her.

"Thanks," she says softly, kissing his cheek when he comes around to join her at the island.

"So… there's this benefit dinner for the neurosurgery department at the hospital on Friday," he starts, not looking at her as he takes a bite of pizza.

She stops playing with her tea bag and glances over at him, "So you won't be home Friday?"

"These dinner parties aren't really my thing, but they want everyone who isn't stuck working Friday night to be there."

"And you haven't traded shifts at the hospital to get out of it yet?" she laughs lightly.

"I, uh… actually hadn't even thought of that," he frowns at her as he briefly considers the idea. But he quickly dismisses it, having been teased earlier in the day by his best friend Mark until he had promised to bring Kate to the event. "Actually… I was kind of hoping you would join me," he admits shyly.

Kate bites her lip and looks down at her cup of tea, "Do you really think that's a good idea, Jack?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" he sets down the slice of pizza he had been eating in order to focus on her.

"Do you really want to introduce me to all of your doctor friends, Jack? I'm a criminal. Someone like you shouldn't be dating someone like me." They haven't really talked about her insecurities on motherhood that came up last week, but clearly it is still on her mind and goes further than just raising Aaron.

Jack places a hand on her wrist, "I don't want anyone else, Kate. And I don't think you should continue to be judged for a mistake that you made years ago."

"And I don't want you to be judged for dating me," she counters. "Your co-workers are going to know who I am and what I did. I don't want my past to ruin your career."

"It won't."

"But what if it does?"

"It won't," he insists, squeezing her wrist.

She lifts the tea up with her other hand and takes a sip. "You're sure about this?" she asks with a sigh, finally looking at him.

"I am sure about you," he smiles and picks up his pizza again. "Besides, Mark will be there, and he really wants to meet you."

"I'm pretty sure I've told you more than once that you could invite him over so it's not my fault that we haven't met yet."

"I like having you to myself."

She shakes her head at him but returns his smile. "So… I've never been to one of these things before… and I don't want to embarrass you. How fancy do I need to dress?"

"I'll take care of it. You don't have to worry," he offers nonchalantly.

"You're going to dress me?" she asks skeptically.

"You don't trust me?"

"I trust you, Jack. But this…"

"Are you worried I'm going to pick something scandalous?"

She laughs, "Well I guess that would give them something to talk about besides the fact that I'm a murderer."

"I know you, Kate, and I'm not going to make you wear something that you're uncomfortable with."

Kate takes a long sip of her tea before she speaks again. "You know… the last time someone dressed me was when the Others forced me to wear a dress. And then other clothes that they finally gave me to change into, the ones you saw me in."

"Kate, we don't have to do this," he quickly says, now understanding her hesitation. The clothes the Others had put her in had been quite different from what she usually wore, though she did tend dress fancier now than she did on the island. "You can go pick something out for yourself."

"No… I trust you, Jack," she interlaces their fingers. "Go ahead. But… can I pick out your tie?"

"I was going to buy one that matches your dress," he looks down, somewhat embarrassed, but squeezes her hand. "But next party we go to, you can dress both of us."

She nods, then her soft smile transforms into a mischievous grin, "I hope it's a Halloween party."

 **~Lost~**

"Can you zip me up?" she asks, suddenly shy, as she steps out of the bathroom.

He looks up from his tie and just stares at her, neckpiece now completely forgotten.

"Jack?" she prompts again, then looks down at herself nervously, wondering if there is something wrong.

The doctor snaps out of his revelry and quickly steps around her, fingers brushing across her soft skin as he zips the teal material up. The dress fits her perfectly, and he drops a kiss to her bare right shoulder. "You look amazing, Kate."

"Thanks. You did a good job picking out the dress," she turns around and presses her lips to his.

He grins at her before finally stepping away, approaching the mirror once more so he can fix his tie. But he is distracted by her image in the mirror, and when he goes to tighten the knot, it all just falls apart.

"Let me help you," she laughs, planting herself in front of him once more as she re-arranges the teal tie around his neck.

"How do you know how to do that?" he asks, watching her as she focuses on his tie.

"From watching my dad when I was little. And then… well, there's not much occasion to wear a tie in Iowa, but Tom insisted on wearing one when he took me to his senior prom. But he couldn't figure out how to tie it."

"Or maybe he was too nervous."

"Nervous about what?" she asks, glancing up at him questioningly as she tightens the knot around his collar. "We had been best friends for more than ten years and had been dating for a few months already. It was just a silly school dance that didn't mean anything."

"Nervous about being around you when you look so beautiful."

"You don't look so bad yourself," she smiles, straightening his collar.

 **~Lost~**

"Jack just left you here?" Mark asks, setting another drink down in front of her as he sits beside her.

"His boss wanted him to talk to some big donor," she nods towards where Jack is busy talking business with a couple other gentlemen.

"Glad it's not me," he says, taking a sip of his own drink.

"So Jack said you two have known each other for a long time?" she starts, interested in learning more about her boyfriend.

"These kids were beating me up on the playground one day in elementary school. Jack tried to stand up for me, but we both just ended up getting our asses kicked… by the other kids and by our parents. Ever since that day we've been best friends," he smiles at her.

"Guess he hasn't changed much," she returns the smile.

"No, he's always trying to take care of everyone," he agrees.

A string quartet starts playing, and several couples make their way to the dance floor. Kate glances over towards Jack and finds him still engaged in conversation.

Mark stands and offers her a hand, "Do you want to dance?"

"Uh…" she looks down at his hand and hesitates. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Jack won't mind, Kate," he tries to assure her.

"It's not that. I just… I grew up in the cornfields. We didn't exactly do this type of dancing," she shakes her head slightly as she watches the couples move around the dance floor.

"Then you're in luck. Jack's dad insisted on giving us ballroom dancing lessons before each school dance growing up."

"I'm sure you were a hit with all of the girls," she teases as she accepts his hand.

"Actually the girls were always more interested in Jack. But usually his date would have a friend willing to go with me," he replies.

Kate puts her other hand on his shoulder as he rests his on her waist, and they start to move around the dance floor. "So… I bet you have a lot of good stories about Jack," she tilts her head slightly as she smiles up at him.

"I certainly do. But if you want those secrets, you're going to have to get me pretty drunk," he jokes. "I can't just tell you everything the first time I meet you, Kate."

"Well, that part's not my fault. I've told him several times that he could invite you over."

"He must have been worried that meeting me would scare you off and you'd break up with him."

She doesn't answer, sure that the reason he hadn't introduced her to anyone except his mother is because he is worried about what they will think of him dating a criminal.

Jack steps up beside them at that moment, "Do you mind if I cut in?"

"Thank you for the dance, Kate," Mark says as he lets go of her.

"Sorry for leaving you," he apologizes as the other man moves away, and he takes his place. "I didn't expect to be gone so long. And… well, I didn't think I would find you on the dance floor."

"This isn't really my thing," she agrees with a nod towards the other couples around them. "But I learned that you and Mark have quite the expertise in dancing."

"What else did Mark tell you?" the doctor asks warily.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she smiles mischievously at him. As the next song comes to a close, she finally asks, "So… is it just me or has everyone been watching us all night?"

"I'm sorry, Kate. I shouldn't have subjected you to this."

"No, Jack. I should have pushed harder when you asked me to come; I shouldn't have agreed knowing what they would think of me," she rests her head on his shoulder, blocking out the people around them.

"It's not you, Kate. It's been two years, and most of the conversation I've had tonight has been about the crash. This whole thing is about raising money for the hospital, and none of them want to hear about my work and the patients they would be helping," Jack leads her back to their table.

"You want to leave?" she asks, noting the couples around them still watching.

"Kind of," he gives her a tight smile. "I just don't want to deal with these people anymore."

"You want to at least say goodbye to Mark?" she nods over to where he is talking to a few donors.

"Uh… not really. But I'll invite him over sometime soon, Kate," he promises. They walk out of the banquet hall together, and when she tries to head for the exit of the hotel, he steps slightly in front of her to stop her. "I… tonight hasn't gone at all like I thought it would, but… well, I got us a room to stay here overnight after you agreed to come with me. But if you want to just go home instead, I can cancel it."

"You got us a room?"

He nods nervously, "Yeah… I mean, Mom's taking care of Aaron and I thought we would be here a lot later…"

She looks down, straightening his tie as she hides her smile, "You still want to stay?"

He steps closer to her and brushes her hair behind her ear, "Well I have wanted to take that dress off of you since before we even left the house…"

Kate blushes slightly, avoiding his eyes for a moment. "Jack…" she finally starts, her eyes coming up to search his, "you're sure that tonight wasn't ruined by me… by what I did?"

"No, absolutely not, Kate," he assures her. "Being here with you tonight has reminded me what really matters. All those people in there care about is money and fame, even some of the doctors. And you understand that there is so much more to life than that. You're the most real person here, Kate."

She studies his face for a few seconds and, finding him to be sincere, leans in to kiss him. "I think we should definitely take advantage of that hotel room you got," she whispers with a grin when she pulls away.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"I think it's time for somebody's nap," she smiles down at her two boys as the younger one yawns.

Jack stands and picks up the little blonde boy, "Come on. Let's go take a nap."

As the two head upstairs to his bedroom, the doorbell rings. Kate, standing at the bottom of the stairs, frowns briefly up at her boyfriend before going to the door to see who is there. "Dad?" she asks, frozen in shock.

"Hi, Katie."

She glances up at where Jack had previously been standing but finds that he is gone. Stepping outside, she pulls the door closed behind her. "What are you doing here?"

Sam Austen puts an arm out, hoping to embrace his daughter for the first time in several years, but she backs away from his reach. "Katie…" She just continues to glare at him, waiting for an explanation; he had been a great father, but she just can't let go of his hurtful words from their last meeting. "I heard about the crash… and that you went to trial."

"The crash was almost two years ago. And the trial was months ago. So why come now, Dad?"

He looks down at his feet as he hesitates, then he looks up at her face, "Your mother is gone, Katie."

There is a brief pause as she processes this, "Gone?"

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you here?" she asks again, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We may not be related by blood, but you're still my daughter."

"I wasn't your daughter when I killed him. And you didn't care enough to show up to the trial to support me."

At that moment, the front door opens, and Jack sticks his head out. "You okay out here, Kate?"

She gives him a tight smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be in in a few minutes." The doctor eyes the man that is standing beside her for a moment, then closes the door and leaves father and daughter alone.

"Is he the father?" Kate looks up at him questioningly. "I saw the pictures when you came back, Katie. You had a baby. And that man was one of the survivors too."

"I was pregnant before I got on that plane, and I didn't know Jack until we crashed."

He sighs and looks down the road, "You're mad at me, and I understand why. But… I think you should come with me to the funeral."

"Why would I want anything to do with her? She turned me in."

"But she changed her mind, Katie; she didn't take the stand and testify against you." Kate remains silent, not looking at him. "The funeral is Monday. I bought you a plane ticket to fly back with me tomorrow afternoon. I think it would be good for you to be there so if you change your mind…" he hands her a scrap of paper with his phone number on it. She reluctantly accepts it, and he can't stop himself from hugging her, not letting her back away this time. "I love you, Katie."

She fights the tears in her eyes as he leaves and heads back inside her house. Jack stands up from the couch when he hears the door close; seeing the pained expression on her face, he wraps his arms around her. A few silent tears fall as she lets him embrace her, and once she has gathered herself again, she pulls away from him. Instead of questioning her, he takes her hand and leads her over to the couch. After sitting down, he tugs on her hand to get her to join him, then nudges her shoulder so she is laying down, her back across his lap with her head resting on a pillow.

Kate closes her eyes as his fingers lightly brush up and down her side. Several silent moments pass before she opens her mouth, "That was my dad. He wants me to go back to Iowa with him."

"Oh…" Jack says, at a loss for what else to say.

She sighs softly and opens her eyes, gazing up at him, "Mom died."

"I'm sorry, Kate."

"He thinks I should go to the funeral."

"Do you want to go?" he asks after a moment.

She shakes her head slightly, "I don't know. What she did hurt so much. But… she made the choice not to testify and had to know what that would mean."

He gently wipes away the tear tracks from her cheeks, "I know you don't want me telling you what to do… but I think you should go, Kate. Say goodbye to her."

"I'm not supposed to leave California."

"In this case, I think they will forgive you." A moment of hesitation passes and then she nods. "I can take some time off, come with you. I'll take care of Aaron so you don't have to worry about him."

"No," she says quickly, and he frowns at the harshness in her voice. Her voice softens as she explains, "No, I don't want either of you to go. I… it's a small town, and it's going to be hard enough to be back there and face their judgment. I don't want to have to put you and Aaron through that too."

"Okay. I'll stay here and watch him then."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea given what happened last time I left the two of you alone together," she gives him a small smile. "I can call Veronica and have her watch Aaron. You have to go to work anyway."

"He's my responsibility too, Kate. I'll take care of him tomorrow and when I get home from work Monday."

"Okay," she agrees.

"We'll be fine. It's just a few days."

"I know."

 **~Lost~**

After the service, Kate wanders off through the cemetery, needing to get some space from all of the curious and judgmental looks she has been subjected to, while Sam sticks around to talk with friends. Half an hour later he finds his daughter seated on the ground in front of another gravestone. He rests a hand against her shoulder, dragging her out of her thoughts. She quickly wipes away her tears, many more than she had shed during the service for her mother. "You okay, Katie?" he offers a hand to help her up. She just stares at it absently, still lost in thought. "If you still want to get home today, we need to be heading to the airport soon."

Finally she looks up at him, "There's something I need to do first."

"Are you sure about this?" he asks when they pull up outside Tom's house fifteen minutes later.

"It's my fault that he's gone; his son is never going to know him because of me. I know this won't bring him back or make up for what I did, but I owe them something," she states, then steps out of the car.

When a little boy who looks almost exactly like her childhood best friend answers the door, she is taken aback. Rachel comes up behind the boy and freezes when she sees Kate standing there. After instructing the boy to go play, she harshly asks, "Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry. Tom deserved so much better, and I should have just turned myself in instead of letting him get hurt."

"If you're here for forgiveness, you're not going to get it. He's dead because of you. You should be in jail right now."

"I know… I know that this in no way makes up for what I did," Kate bites her lip and reaches into her purse. Rachel glares at her for a moment before accepting the check that she holds out. "It doesn't bring his father back, but I want to make sure he's taken care of."

Rachel wants to rip the check up, but when she sees the amount Kate has given them, she can't bring herself to do it, knowing that it would greatly help her son. "Kate…"

Then she pulls out Tom's toy airplane, which she had carried with her all over the island, turning it over and over in her hands before finally holding it out, "This… this belonged to his father, and I want him to have it."

The two women stare at each other for a long time before Rachel finally takes the plane. Neither speaks, and Kate finally turns away, heading back to the car.

The ride to the airport is made mostly in silence, but when they are just a few minutes away, Sam speaks. "Katie, I don't want to lose you again. You're family, and I'm sorry it took me so long to realize how much I care about you."

She turns her face away to look out the window and quietly states, "Wayne was a terrible human being, and he will never be my father."

He pulls the car to a stop outside the airport terminal and places a hand on her arm to keep her from getting out yet, "What did he do to you, Katie?"

"He's dead now. It doesn't matter," she says, refusing to look at him.

"I swear I would have gotten you out of there if I had known," he scrubs a hand down his face at the thought of his little girl being harmed. "Your mother… did she…?"

"No. I was better at hiding it than she ever was. As far as I know, she never suspected a thing," she pulls her arm away from him and steps out of the car.

He follows suit, pulling an envelope out of his pocket, "Kate… I went to get her things from the nursing home last night. She left you a letter. She loved you, and I hope that one day you will be able to forgive her."

She reluctantly accepts the envelope from him but doesn't reply.

"I'm sorry. For not taking you with me when we split up, for not rescuing you from him, for not coming to support you at the trial. I was not a good father. But if you can forgive me… I'd like to try again," Sam reaches for her hand. "I'm stationed in Washington again. LA is just a short flight away. I want to be a part of your life, be a grandpa to that little boy of yours."

For a few long seconds, he thinks she is going to turn away from him and head into the airport. She lets go of his hand, but he is pleasantly surprised when she wraps her arms around him. "I'd like that."

He squeezes her, then pulls back, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Give me a call any time, kiddo. I love you."

She looks down. Save for the time she had been saving Sawyer's life, Aaron is the only person she has been able to say those words to in years; she hadn't even been able to say them to Jack yet. She grabs her bag from the back of the car and gives him a smile before heading inside to catch her flight, "Bye, Dad."

 **~Lost~**

Veronica had prepared dinner for them while waiting for Jack to come home from work. After she had left and they had eaten, he had decided to introduce Aaron to the _Lion King_ , which he seemed to enjoy. The doctor carries the boy upstairs to bed when the movie is over. "Jack?" Aaron says as he gets tucked in.

"Yes?"

"Are you my daddy?"

Jack is unsure how to answer this question. He had no idea what Kate had told him before, but the boy was not even two years old; he couldn't possible know that Kate was not truly his mother, and he couldn't know what being a dad really meant. "Uh… yeah, buddy. I'm your dad," he answers. But the fear suddenly hits him as he realizes what he had just said. "Good night, Aaron. Mommy will be back when you wake up tomorrow."

"Love you, Jack," Aaron smiles, then closes his eyes.

The doctor turns the lights off, closes the bedroom door, and heads back downstairs. He grabs a beer from the fridge and takes a few large sips as he leans against the counter. He had told Kate that he loved her, and he had meant it. And he loved the little boy too. But actually being the boy's father terrifies him because he is afraid that he will be no better than his own father. He takes another gulp from the bottle, then grabs a second one from the fridge and goes to sit on the couch.

Two hours later Kate opens up the front door and steps inside. The house is quiet; it is way past Aaron's bedtime, but she had kind of expected Jack to wait up for her. The lights are still on downstairs, and she moves to turn them off. But she stops with her hand reaching out to the light switch when she notices the beer bottles on the table. With a slight frown on her face, she crosses her room to pick them up and discard of them. It is then that she notices the man asleep on the couch.

She crouches down next to the couch and puts her hand on his shoulder. When he doesn't wake, she presses her lips to the corner of his mouth, then whispers his name. He remains unconscious, and she turns away, trying to shake away images of her biological father as she eyes the three beer bottles again. With a sigh, she picks the bottles up and takes them to the garbage, hoping that he had just had a bad day at work and that he hadn't been drunk around her son. With one last glance at her boyfriend, she heads to the stairs, unable to bring herself to put in the effort to wake him.

Kate peaks her head to check on her son, and she can't resist moving closer to him and placing a kiss on his forehead. To her great relief, he looks unharmed, and her fear that drunk Jack was the same as drunk Wayne is slightly abated. The boy sighs softly in his sleep but doesn't wake. "Good night, baby," she says quietly. With one last lingering look at him, she closes the door behind her.

 **~Lost~**

They don't get a chance to talk the next day - Jack leaves for a surgery early in the morning, giving her a quick kiss goodbye, and when he comes home from work, she is already asleep. The following day follows the same pattern, and as she brushes her teeth, she worries that Jack is pulling away from her again. But then she hears his key in the door, and a few minutes later, he steps into the bathroom, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "Hey," he leans around to kiss her cheek.

"Hey."

"Sorry I'm so late. There was an emergency surgery that came in this afternoon."

"It's okay, Jack," she says but she doesn't relax into his embrace as she used to.

"How was Iowa?"

"Not much different than when I left."

He smiles at her in the mirror, "Aaron and I finished reading the _Wizard of Oz_ while you were gone. I may have told him we could go visit Kansas some time. Not too much different than Iowa, is it?"

"No, not really. Maybe less snow."

"It snows in Iowa?"

She can't stop the smile that comes to her face, "Yeah, sometimes. It's nice."

"I'll just take your word for it," he tightens his arms around her slightly, then lets go to change out of his suit.

She turns around to face him, "So you and Aaron had a good time together? He didn't cause any problems?"

"No, we were fine. He was good. And we didn't even make a big mess this time."

She follows him out to the bedroom and sits on the side of the bed, "Is everything okay, Jack?"

He tosses his clothes in the hamper and pulls on a t-shirt to sleep in, "Yeah, everything is good."

"You sure about that? Because you were completely out the other night, Jack. What if something had happened to Aaron before I got home?"

"It was just a bad day at work. I promise it won't happen again, Kate," he lies as he comes to stand in front of her, eyes locked on hers.

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

He cups her face in his hands and gives her a gentle kiss, "Yes. But right now I want to do more than talk."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

His fingers trace lazy patterns on her bare back, "Did you really mean what you said?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," she presses her lips to his sternum, then lifts her head up to look at him.

"You said that I was good at this."

"You are, Jack," she grins down at him. "I think I made myself pretty clear."

"I wasn't talking about that," he returns her smile and squeezes her hip. "I meant… good with Aaron."

"You know… the other day he wouldn't let me read to him. He said that you were better at it than I was."

He brushes the curls back from her face, "You really think that I can do this? That I can be a good dad?"

"When we got on that helicopter and left the island without Claire, all I knew was that if we were rescued, I couldn't let him be taken away. I had no idea how to be a mother, Jack; I just knew that I would love him and try my hardest to be better than my own mother was," Kate tells him. "So yes, Jack. You are good at this. You care about him, and that's all that really matters."

Her words help to abate the fear that had been building in him since he told Aaron that he would be his father almost a week ago. He lifts his head up to capture her lips and quickly flips them over so that she is under him. He pulls back to look down at the beautiful woman beneath him and smiles, "So… can we go back to that other thing I am good at?"

 **~Lost~**

Jack sits in his car outside of the facility that Hurley is staying in, unable to get Hurley's words out of his head. His confidence had been boosted by Kate last week, but Hurley - or Charlie? - had just set him back again by saying that he was not supposed to raise him. He closes his eyes and fights the urge to head to the nearest bar. Of course he wishes that Claire had made it off the island with them, that she could be here to raise her son. But she isn't, and Kate is all the little boy has right now unless he can pull himself together again.

When he found out the boy was his nephew, the guilt had initially overwhelmed him, and as much as he cared for Kate, he couldn't face his nephew and the reminder that he had failed so many of their friends by leaving them on the island. He had thought that time had healed some of those wounds, and after seeing her at the trial, he had finally decided that he couldn't stand being apart from her any longer and had worked up the courage to face his nephew.

His father had constantly told him he didn't have what it takes, that he would never be good enough. And failing to rescue everyone from the island had made him believe that his father was right. But now he wants to prove him wrong - and prove to Hurley and Charlie that he could raise Aaron. Determined to show them that he could do this, he opens his eyes and starts the car. Despite the late hour, he heads off to find a jewelry store. They had only been dating for a few months, but he knows how he feels about her and is ready to make the commitment to both of them.

She is asleep when he finally gets home, but he wakes her, not wanting to give himself the time to doubt his decision. The question seems to surprise her, but to his great relief, she says yes.

 **~Lost~**

As he watches them both lying on the floor coloring, he can't help but wonder about the small box he holds in his hand, one he had just found under their bathroom sink when he was looking for more soap. Even though he had asked her to marry him just a few days ago, he still is conflicted about their future, and this certainly complicates things more. "Can I talk to you, Kate?" he finally asks, hiding the box from her view.

"What's going on, Jack?" she asks once they are alone in the kitchen.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Kate leans back against the counter, "Whatever it is that you want to know, you're just going to have to ask me because I don't know what you're trying to get at, Jack."

He holds out the pregnancy test box to her, "Are you…?"

She looks at the box for a moment before meeting his eyes, "No. I forgot to take my pills with me when I went to Iowa so I missed a couple days. And then I was late so I bought the test thinking that I might be."

"You didn't think to tell me?" he asks, feeling just as hurt as when Sarah had thought she might be pregnant during their marriage and didn't inform him.

"I thought about telling you, but… well, after I bought it, you were at work late for a couple days and I never got a chance to tell you. We've never really talked about that sort of thing, but I thought… that you might want to be there when I find out. The… well, by then, it started, and it no longer mattered because I wasn't pregnant."

Jack lets out a relieved sigh and leans against the counter across from her, looking down at the floor between them.

"Jack… are you okay?" she asks, not missing his relief at the news that she isn't pregnant, reminding of Sawyer and his reaction to her not being pregnant.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You want to talk about it?"

"There isn't really anything to talk about since you're not pregnant," he shrugs and glances up at her. Before she can say anything else on the matter, he pushes off the counter and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, then heads toward the door, "I've got to leave or I'm going to be late for work."

 **~Lost~**

He watches her retreating back as she heads up the stairs and can't help but feel that she is lying to him. He had thought that getting engaged would return his confidence, but instead, it had just made things worse. Though he had expressed his feelings towards her several times, she had not once said that she loved him, and this makes him paranoid that there is someone else in her life, especially given her history on the island with Sawyer. In addition, the pressure of living up to her expectations, being the father that Aaron deserves, and the pregnancy scare had hit him hard, and he had been burying himself in work for the last week, putting in long hours to escape and doing the job that he had already proved he could do. And those long hours were taking their toll - he had seen a ghost of his dead father in the hospital tonight.

Once she is up the stairs, he pulls the pill bottle out of his pocket and takes two, washing them down with a beer from the fridge. Wanting to distance himself from his fiancée, he stays down in the kitchen and finishes his drink, trying to convince himself that there is not another man in her life or some other horrible secret that she is keeping from him. Shaking his head at himself for falling back into his habit of distrusting her, he opens a second beer. He only drinks about half of it before the pills start to take effect, and figuring that he had waited long enough for her to be asleep by now, he wearily heads up to their bedroom.

Hours later, a quiet voice draws him from sleep, "Jack?"

His eyes slowly open, fighting against the pills and alcohol he had consumed just a few hours ago, and he finds Aaron standing by their bed, both his polar bear and the killer whale he had gotten at Sea World last weekend in hand. "What's wrong, bud?"

"Monster in closet," Aaron says quietly, eyes wide with fright.

Jack rubs his eyes, trying to wake up. Kate is still sound asleep behind him, her arm around his abdomen and face buried in his shoulder, and its hard for him to keep his eyes open. Too tired to chase the monsters away, he finally asks, "You want to sleep with us?"

The boy nods and scrambles up into the bed, snuggling up against Jack's chest as he lays down. Soon they are both fast asleep again.

He wakes early the next morning and carefully extricates himself from between mother and son on the bed. After a quick shower, he dresses for work and finds that, in his absence, the two have moved closer together and are currently cuddling. A small smile crosses his face until he remembers the previous evening. He turns away to finish getting ready, his faith in her, in himself, and in their relationship wavering.

 **~Lost~**

Kate cradles Aaron in her arms, fighting to stop the tears from falling, as Jack walks out the front door. "Jack go to work, Mommy?" Aaron asks, that being her usual explanation for where the doctor is when he isn't with them.

"Uh…" she isn't sure what to tell him because she doesn't know if Jack is going to come back.

"He forgot to read me a story," Aaron looks sadly at her.

She wipes her tears away, trying to put on a brave face for her son. "I can read to you, baby."

He yawns, "No, that's okay, Mommy."

"Let's get you up to bed then," she carries him up the stairs to his room. She squats down and sets him on the ground beside the bed.

Once his feet are on the floor, he throws his arms around her neck and kisses her cheek, "Love you, Mommy."

"I love you too, Aaron," she squeezes him. Then he climbs into the bed and pulls the covers up over himself. "Good night," she kisses his forehead and leaves him to sleep.

Believing that Jack will come back that night - although she is sure he will be drunk because he seemed to be well on his way there already - she changes into pajamas and heads back downstairs, curling up on the couch as she waits for him. They have to talk, to work things out. She thinks about telling him the truth about what she was doing for Sawyer; he didn't seem to trust her even though, as he had pointed out, Sawyer was still on the island and not here. But his jealousy over Sawyer was really the least of their issues.

Jack clearly had a problem with alcohol. No matter how much either of them tried to deny it, the evidence was clear by the display of bottles on the table in front of her. When they were still on the island, he had told her about his father using alcohol to cope with his problems, and Jack had done exactly the same thing.

But the most hurtful thing that he had said were his last words to her before walking out - _you're not even related to him_. Despite the lie that they had convinced everyone of, she is well aware that she is not his real mother. But she still loved him. And she had experience with a surrogate parent; her father, the man she later learned she was not actually related to, had been more caring than either of her biological parents. And when Aaron got older, she fully intended tell him about his mother and the island; she would not cover up the lies like her own mother had.

The next morning, Aaron finds her still curled up on the couch, sound asleep. He climbs up onto the couch next to her and worms his way into her lap. She sleepily adjusts her position to accommodate him, and they both fall back asleep, arms wrapped around each other.

Jack had not come home.

 **~Lost~**

Five days pass with no word from Jack. She had just finished bathing Aaron and gotten him ready for bed; he is currently playing with his cars in his room, and she goes to her own room to change. After pulling a t-shirt over her head to sleep in, her eyes catch a glimpse of the diamond still on her finger in the mirror. She looks down at her hand and slowly twists the ring around her finger. Almost a full minute passes before she finally pulls it off of her finger; she sets the engagement ring down on the dresser and closes her eyes, telling herself that she had to move on from this man.

"Time for bed, Aaron," she says, entering his room.

"Jack read to me?" he asks, leaving his cars out and sitting on the bed.

"I can read to you," she reaches for _Alice in Wonderland_ on the nightstand, which he and Jack had never finished.

"No," Aaron grabs her hand to keep her from touching the book. "Jack read to me."

"Jack isn't here," she gently tells him as she squats down in front of him.

"Mommy bad at reading," he glares at her.

"Sweetheart…" she ignores his hurtful words and tries to put her arms around him, but he wiggles out of her grip. She is at a loss on how to tell him that Jack probably wasn't going to come back.

"I want Jack," the little boy folds his arms across his chest and pouts at her.

"Jack isn't going to come back, Aaron," she says, closing her eyes against the hurt on the boy's face.

"Why?" he yells. "Why he leave?"

Kate wipes away a few tears that have escaped, "I don't know, baby."

"Why you mean to Jack, Mommy?" he accuses.

"Aaron…" she tries to reach for him again, but he pushes her arm away.

"I want Jack. Not you, Mommy."

She stands and moves away from him, frustrated not with her son for his angry words but with the man that had caused both of them all of this pain. He was almost two years old; he couldn't understand why Jack had left, and no explanation that she could give would be adequate for him. She had thought that they could all be a happy family together, but she had failed her son by putting her faith in the wrong man.

Aaron comes over to her and starts pushing on her legs to get her to leave his room, "Go away, Mommy. No come back." Despite his small size, he does succeed in pushing her out the door.

"Aaron, Jack is gone," she tries again to get him to understand.

"I don't like you, Mommy. I like Jack," he shouts, then closes his bedroom door.

More tears start falling down her cheeks as she looks at the closed door in front of her. After a moment, she turns away, letting Aaron have his temper tantrum alone, and curls up on her bed, clutching Jack's pillow to her chest. And she finally concedes to the tears, letting them flow freely as she grieves for the loss of the closest friend she had had in years, for the loss of her son's father even if he did not want the role.

Fifteen minutes later, Aaron quietly makes his way to his mother's room. Her back is turned to the door, and he can see her shoulders shaking as she continues to cry. He climbs up onto the bed and wraps his little arms around her, "I sorry, Mommy."

Kate rolls onto her back to face him, quickly wiping away her tears, "It's okay, honey."

"I miss Jack."

"I know you do," she hugs him to her. "I miss him too."

He looks up at her with tears in his eyes, "Jack really gone?"

"Yes, baby, I think he's really gone," she says, wishing that she could take the boy's pain away and make Jack see what he was missing out on. And if Jack ever comes back into their lives, she is going to have to be sure that he will stay, that her son will never face this disappointment again. The boy buries his face in her shoulder as the tears fall, and Kate can't stop her own tears from starting again. "I'm so sorry, Aaron."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A knock on the front door draws Kate's attention as she leaves her son's room. She frowns and heads to the stairs, unsure who would be knocking this late in the evening. Before she reaches the bottom of the stairs, the knock sounds again and a voice calls out. "Kate, please open the door."

She sighs, pausing for a moment to contemplate the request. It had been a month since their fight, a month since he was angry at her for Sawyer's secret that she was keeping from him, a month since he had drunkenly accused her of not being his mother. And she had not seen or heard anything from him since.

"Please, Kate," he calls, knocking again.

Her feet bring her to the door, and she opens it. "What are you doing here, Jack?"

"I need to see him. I need to see Aaron," he tries to step into the house and stumbles trying to right himself when she doesn't move out of the way as he had expected.

"Are you drunk again, Jack?"

He rubs a hand across his face, "I need to see him. Please."

"You left a month ago, and we haven't heard from you since then. He's been asking for you every day, and I had to tell him that you were not coming back. And now you show up drunk and expect me to let you see him when that was the reason for our argument."

"Kate…" he pushes the door open further and steps around her.

"Jack, I just put him to bed," she grabs his arm before he gets to the stairs.

He pulls away from her and takes a seat on the bottom stair. After a few moments, he finally speaks, "There was a little boy about Aaron's age, was hit by a car when he chased a ball out into the road. I tried to repair his spine but… he didn't make it through the surgery."

"I'm sorry," Kate reaches out for his hand and pulls him up into a hug. Despite the fact that her brain is telling her not to give in, her heart wins out at the sadness on his face and she concedes. "Go on, Jack. You can wake him if you want. He'll be so happy to see you."

He gives her a small smile and heads up the stairs to see Aaron, stumbling a few times in his eagerness.

She takes a seat on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest and contemplating her decision. When he had left, she had vowed to herself that she would not let him back in their lives if he was still drinking. And now she has let him in and allowed him to see her son when he was still clearly having alcohol problems. He had just seemed so devastated and desperate after telling her about his day.

About half an hour later he comes back downstairs, and she stands to meet him by the door. "I… thank you, Kate. I know that was not something you wanted to do. But I should get going now."

"So that's it? You're just going to leave again?"

"Kate, I know you don't want me here."

"I don't want you to walk out of our lives, Jack. But if you're going to stay… if you want to stay… then there are some issues that we need to deal with."

"There are issues on both sides, Kate," he returns, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"I know. And maybe you don't want to talk about it now. But you can't leave like this, Jack," she puts her hand in his pocket to take his keys but is surprised when she pulls out a pill bottle instead. She frowns as she reads the prescription label for the oxycodone, unsure why he has such a strong painkiller in his pocket. "What is this, Jack?"

Instead of answering, he moves past her to the front door, keys in hand.

"Jack, stop. You're drunk and… maybe high on drugs too. You should not be driving right now. Or you're going to be the next one driving the car that kills a little boy," she tells him.

His hand freezes on the door handle, but he doesn't turn back to look at her.

She steps closer to him and takes the keys from his hand. He avoids looking at her face, knowing that all he would find is disappointment. "Stay here tonight. We can talk… or not. I can make you some coffee… or have you eaten anything?

He shakes his head, "Too busy drinking and debating if I should come over here to see him."

She leads him to the kitchen, and he heads to the fridge to pick something out. When he pulls out Aaron's bag of frozen chicken nuggets, she frowns, "Really?"

"Hey, chicken nuggets are good drunk food. And so is Taco Bell. But you have my keys…" She shrugs and hands him a plate. As he begins to arrange them on the plate, he asks, "You want any?"

When he doesn't hear a response, he looks up at her and finds her staring at him. "Just how drunk are you, Jack?"

"Oh, right. You don't eat meat," he ignores her question and puts the plate in the microwave, then gets out the ketchup and sits down at the table.

"I don't think coffee goes with chicken nuggets," she says as she sets a glass of water in front of him along with the plate of said food, now heated.

"Thanks," he says as he squeezes a large amount of ketchup onto the plate and digs in. "Did you ask me something earlier? I can't remember."

She takes a seat beside him, "How much did you have to drink?"

"Uh… four or five beers maybe… and a couple shots of whiskey."

"And you drove all the way here after drinking that much?"

"I drove here first, thought you wouldn't let me in if I knocked. So I found a bar about a mile away, but drinking just made me want to come here more."

"You should've knocked when you first came, Jack. I would've been happier to let you in then than when you came back drunk." He takes a sip of water and doesn't respond. "What about the pills? How many of those did you take?"

"Two."

She waits for him to say more about it, but he doesn't elaborate. "Why are you taking pills?"

He puts his last chicken nugget back on his plate and turns to her. "Why are all these problems in our relationship my fault, Kate?"

Kate studies her glass of water before looking up at him, hoping that her own honesty now would get him to open up to her. "I was doing a favor for Sawyer-"

"And you can't tell me what it is. We've been through this already," he glares at her as best he can as his head spins.

"He has a daughter. He had never met her, but her mother had told him about her. He put some money from a con he did in the bank for her but never got to give to her. He asked me to make sure she got it."

"That's all?" he asks skeptically.

She sighs, "Not exactly. Cassidy, the girl's mother… I met her while I was on the run; she helped me sneak in to talk to my mother. She told me she was pregnant when we first met, that some guy had conned her out of all of her money. Never knew he was that someone until I tracked down his daughter. Cassidy and I meet up sometimes."

"To talk about how much you miss Sawyer?"

She shakes her head and takes a deep breath to keep herself calm, "I know that what I did on the island was unfair to both of you, Jack. And I'm sorry that I did it."

"Do you love him?"

"I did care about him, yes," she doesn't hesitate before answering. "But not the same way I care about you."

He looks away from her, trying to decide if he really believes her as he eats the last nugget.

Kate places her hand over his on the table, "The jealousy over Sawyer is something I can deal with, Jack. But the alcohol… and now the drugs… I just don't understand what is going on with you."

He looks down at her hand on his, realizing for the first time that she does not have her engagement ring on.

"Jack… this all seemed to start when we got engaged. If I caused this…"

"It's not you, Kate."

"Then what is it? Aaron? Work?"

Jack takes a minute to gather his thoughts. "Today was about work. And maybe sort of you since we had split up, and I couldn't just come here for comfort."

"And what is it usually about?" she asks gently.

"Work is good… except for days like today. But it's still exciting and not too stressful, especially now that my father isn't looking over my shoulder all the time." He flips his hand over to entangle their fingers, "And you and Aaron are wonderful. Of course I'm still worried about being a good father for him. And… well, my first wife left me for another man because I was never there for her. So I worry that you could leave me too…"

"I know that you have an important job, Jack, and can't be here all the time. And I know that what happened with Sawyer doesn't help my case… but there will never be another man, not if we are going to give this another chance."

"Thank you for being so understanding," he squeezes her hand.

"But that's just it, Jack. I still don't understand why you are doing this to yourself. If it's not me and Aaron or work…"

He averts his gaze from her face, fearing her judgment. After several moments of silence, he speaks again. "When you first kissed me, you said that the island was driving you crazy. I know we're off of it now, but… it's still driving me crazy, Kate. We just left our friends there. And so many of them died because of me."

Kate stays quiet, not sure what exactly to say; telling him to just get over his guilt obviously wouldn't work, and she had thought he had moved past it, that that was why he had approached her again about a relationship. She stands, pulling on his hand to get him up as well, and then wraps her arms tightly around him. "It's okay, Jack."

"I just don't know how to deal with this, Kate. I guess I turned to alcohol because that's what I saw my father do instead of actually dealing with his problems," he admits, carefully wrapping his arms around her.

"I will help you, Jack. You just have to let me in," she whispers against his neck.

He nods and rests his head on hers, his beard rubbing against her temple. "I don't want to lose you, Kate," he whispers.

She pulls back to look at him, "You won't lose me. Not if you put in the work to get through this."

He hesitates for a second before leaning in to capture her lips in a gentle kiss, "Thank you, Kate."

She smiles at him before stepping away to pick up his dishes. As she is rinsing the plate off, he comes up beside her with the two beer bottles that were left in the fridge. She studies him, unsure what he is doing as he opens them and hands one to her. She carefully accepts it, not sure what he is up to. Then he turns the bottle he is still holding over, dumping it down the sink.

"Any other alcohol stashed here?" he asks as she pours her bottle down the sink as well.

"No. I drank the bottle of wine you got to celebrate our engagement after you left."

He takes the pill bottle that she had left on the counter with his keys and dumps them down the drain as well before shutting the faucet off. "Can you come help me clean out my apartment tomorrow? I want to make sure everything is gone."

"Sure. But… you don't have to stay at your apartment, Jack. You can come back here with us. You've spent nearly every night here since we started dating anyway."

"If you're positive?"

She nods, "It's been weird not having you around."

"Okay. I can take the couch for a while…"

"That's not necessary," she kisses him, her hands wrapping around his neck as his come to rest on her waist. Suddenly she pulls back, wincing. "You taste like chicken fingers and beer."

"Sorry."

"Jack… since we're on the subject of getting rid of things, there is something else that you need to take care of," she places a hand on his cheek.

"Kate, if this is about my car again -"

She cuts him off with a finger on his lips, "I'm not talking about your car, though that is another matter. I was referring to this thing going on with your face. It looks like you haven't shaved since you left last month."

"I thought we agreed that some stubble was okay. You didn't mind it on the island."

"I like being able to see your face. And this is way more than a little stubble, Jack."

"Okay. I will shave tomorrow," he says with a yawn.

She takes his hand and tugs him toward the stairs, turning off lights and checking that doors are locked as they go. When they reach their room, she lets go and sets about her nightly routine, starting with pajamas. "I haven't touched any of your things since you left. So whatever you didn't take with you should still be where you left it."

He nods and pulls out his own pajamas from a drawer. Then he follows her to the bathroom where they brush their teeth side by side. When they're finished, she pulls some aspirin out of the medicine cabinet, "For your hangover."

Then they head to bed, him trying to leave some space between them as they get settled, thankful that she seems to be willing to support and work with him but unsure exactly how intimate she is willing to be right now as they put their relationship back together.

After a few minutes of him hesitantly lying on the edge of the bed as far from her as possible, she reaches out for him. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to sleep halfway out of the bed all night," she says, taking his arm and pulling him closer to her. She rolls onto her side facing away from him and pulls his arm around her.

He feels her relax into his chest and allows himself to relax as well as exhaustion takes over. "Good night, Kate," he whispers, kissing her shoulder softly before closing his eyes.

 **~Lost~**

He wakes alone in the bed the next morning, a throbbing in his head. A faint smile comes to his face as he remembers the previous night; he had been sure he had lost her, and though she had clearly been upset with him, she had seemed willing to give him another chance. He slowly sits up and spots the aspirin and water that she has left out on the dresser for him. After downing a couple pills, he notices her ring with the rest of her jewelry on the dresser, and he picks it up. He looks down at it for a few moments and promises himself that he will be a better man and a better dad; then he puts the ring in the pocket of his pajama pants. He heads into the bathroom, and when he spots his reflection in the mirror, he decides that he needs a change.

"Hi, Jack," Aaron smiles and waves at him as he comes down the stairs.

Jack goes over to the boy and ruffles his hair, "Hi, Aaron. What are you watching?"

"Cartoons," he answers, turning back to the TV. He had been excited to see Jack last night but now was afraid that he would leave them again. Sensing Aaron's hesitation with him, Jack heads into the kitchen.

"Morning," Kate says, setting down her spatula to pour him a cup of coffee.

"Morning," he smiles at her.

"You shaved your beard," her fingers ghost across his clean-shaven cheek.

"Yeah," he takes the coffee mug from her, fingers brushing against hers.

"Breakfast will be ready in a bit," she steps back over to the stove where she is cooking French toast.

"What can I do to help?" he asks.

"I've got it handled," she says, back to him as she flips over the toast.

Jack comes to stand next to her, leaning back against the counter. "Kate… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for my behavior last night and so many other nights. I'm sorry for saying that you aren't his mother. I'm sorry that I was not the man that you and Aaron needed me to be. And I know that I do not deserve a second chance at this."

She looks over at him, "If I wasn't willing to give you another chance, I would've kicked you out last night. Or you would've been on the couch for sure. But I was serious about you staying sober, Jack. I will help you through this however I can, but if the drugs and alcohol don't stop… we are over."

He fingers the ring in his pocket and sets his coffee mug down behind him, then gets down on one knee in front of her, holding the ring out. "Kate, you and Aaron are the best thing to ever happened to me. I don't want to lose you, and I swear that I will stay sober."

"Jack… I can't," she brushes away a tear and looks away from him.

"Kate…" he looks crestfallen at her rejection.

She kneels down in front of him and reaches out to curl his hand around the ring, "I'm not saying no to you, Jack. You just… keep it safe for me for a little while, and when you've put in the work, when you're ready… ask me again."


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Forty-two days pass. Jack works hard to show her that he can change.

He cuts back on his hours at work in order to spend more time with them, though he still has some late days; but she fortunately is forgiving of these days, more understanding of the demands of his job than Sarah ever was.

He starts going to AA meetings a couple times a week; he had wanted to do this on his own, but he is too afraid that he will make a mistake that will cost him his family. He doesn't tell her about the meetings until he comes home one night with his thirty day sobriety chip.

He buys himself a new SUV one day and surprises her. It had been hard to let go of the truck he had driven since starting college, but he makes sure the new car has all of the latest safety features and even gets a car seat for Aaron, wanting her to trust him to take care of the boy.

He is the one who suggests that they host Thanksgiving and invite their parents. He knew that she had been talking to her father occasionally on the phone since the funeral. And he coaxes her into rekindling that relationship, telling her that if she was giving him a second chance at fatherhood with Aaron, then her father deserved the same consideration.

And he opens up to her, talking to her when he feels stressed about their friends still on the island, when he is worried about being a good father and a good boyfriend. She, in turn, tries to be more open with him - she tells him about missing Sawyer, about being on the run, and about her childhood, including the secret about her biological father she had kept from everyone.

Aaron begs to go to the park after dinner, and the three of them walk down the street together, Aaron babbling about how excited he is for Santa the next evening. Jack pushes him on the swing for a while, then he wants to go on the slides. Jack and Kate sit together on the swings watching him. After going down the two littler slides a few times, he comes over to them and grabs her hand, "Go down big slide, Mommy."

"I think Jack will take you on the big slide," she tells him, smiling over at her boyfriend. But the doctor keeps his gaze firmly on the boy, not looking at her.

Aaron briefly glances at Jack, then back up at her. With a tug on her hand, he says, "No, I want you, Mommy."

"Okay, baby," she stands and lets her son tug her over to the jungle gym. Jack watches them, fingers wrapped around the box in his pocket.

When they get up to the rope bridge, Aaron bravely crosses it on his own this time, grinning back over at her as she follows. She moves to sit at the top of the slide, expecting him to want to go down together again. But he surprises her by gently pushing her out of the way, "No, Mommy. Me first."

"Then why did you want me to come with you?" she asks.

He just smiles and pushes himself off down the slide.

Kate looks over to the swings to show Jack her exasperation at her son, but he isn't there. She frowns slightly, then realizes he must have come over to wait for them at the bottom of the slide.

"Your turn, Mommy," Aaron calls up at her.

Feeling ridiculous at going down the slide by herself, she sighs and pushes off.

At the bottom of the slide, her heart skips a few beats when she finds Aaron standing beside Jack, who is down on one knee. Both of them are smiling at her, and she quickly comes to the realization that they had been plotting this.

"Kate," Jack holds the engagement ring out to her for the third time. "I love you and I love Aaron, and I'm ready to be the man that you both need me to be. So… will you marry me?"

Aaron frowns when he sees tears on her cheeks and reaches out for her hand, "No, don't cry, Mommy." He hadn't seen her crying since Jack had left them, and he is worried that her tears mean that it is happening again.

"Don't worry, baby; these are happy tears," she pulls him in for a hug.

"Happy crying?" he asks, looking at her like she's crazy, then glances over at Jack to make sure he's not leaving.

Jack smiles at the boy reassuringly and then looks back up at Kate, getting slightly worried since he still didn't have an answer. "I know that it hasn't been that long since I last asked, but I really think that I am on the right track now. So whatever it is that you need me to do, just… talk to me."

"Jack… you're doing everything exactly right. Aaron and I are so lucky to have you. So yes… I will marry you," she grins at him.

He grins back, taking her hand to slide the ring back into position on her finger. Then he lets out a sigh of relief and pulls her up from the slide, his arms coming up to embrace her. She presses her lips to his.

After a few moments, Aaron makes a face at them, "Ew."

They break apart to look down at him. Jack lifts him up and then they each kiss one of his cheeks at the same time.

As they walk up the sidewalk leading to their house, Aaron asks, "Is Jack my daddy?"

The two adults look at each other, Kate not entirely sure how to answer without putting more pressure on Jack and not about to explain to the two year old where babies come from. Shifting his eyes from his fiancée, Jack answers the boy, much more confident in his reply than he was the last time he had answered the question. "Yes, Aaron, I'm going to be your daddy."

He puts the boy down when they get inside, and he scampers up the stairs to put on pajamas and pick out a bedtime story. Kate grabs her future husband's hand to keep him downstairs for a moment. "Jack…"

He cups her cheek and gently smiles, trying to reassure her that he isn't going to run, "I know what asking you to marry me meant, Kate, and I meant every word that I said. I want to be his dad."

She wraps her arms around him again, hesitantly looking down at his chest before her green eyes meet his brown ones. "I love you, Jack."

His smile widens and he leans in to kiss her, letting it last longer now that Aaron isn't there to interrupt. When their lips finally separate, he is still smiling at her, so happy to finally hear her say those words. "I love you too, Kate."


End file.
